Firefighters Complete Second Session of 2011 Columbia Gas Fire School

NGT&S Contact

Jen Browne – Senior Communications Specialist
(713) 331-7474

CANONSBURG, Pa. & HOUSTON (October 21, 2011) – Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland, Inc. and NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage’s (NGT&S) Columbia Gas Transmission announced today that local firefighters from throughout their Eastern Pennsylvania and Western Maryland operating areas successfully completed the Columbia Gas Fire School.

Participating fire departments included, East Berlin VFD, Buchanan Valley VFD, Shiloh Fire Co., Lincolnway Fire Co., Mount Savage VFD, Cresaptown VFD, Frostburg VFD and LaVale VFD.

The Columbia Gas Fire School is comprised of two elements:

  • Classroom Training: a two-hour session including natural gas incident question-and-answer, a video demonstrating how to safely respond to a natural gas incident, and a roundtable discussion on natural gas facilities specific to each community; and
  • Hands-on Field Training: each firefighter puts their classroom training to work and has the opportunity to experience – hands-on – how to extinguish four types of natural gas incidents. This training was held at Columbia Gas Transmission’s training facilities in Gettysburg, Pa.

“The safety of our customers, communities and employees is, and always will be, our number one priority. Firefighters are often the first to arrive at the scene of a natural gas incident and it is essential they understand how to respond in a safe and efficient manner,” said Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Columbia Gas of Maryland President Carol Fox. “The Columbia Gas Fire School not only allows us to provide firefighters with the tools and resources needed to safely respond to a natural gas incident, but it also creates a partnership designed to keep our customers and communities safe.”

“This type of firefighter training is vital and timely,” said NGT&S Executive Vice President and Group CEO Jimmy Staton. “Having both a local natural gas utility and an interstate natural gas transmission provider together at this training is unique and offers a comprehensive overview of nearly all types of incidents. We deeply appreciate the selfless commitment of first responders and believe it’s important to develop and sustain meaningful partnerships with them.”

During the field training, firefighters are presented with an opportunity to learn how to extinguish four types of natural gas incidents:

  • Surface fire, which simulates an area that caught fire due to natural gas migrating to the surface;
  • Pulled pipe fire, simulates a fire caused by damage to a natural gas distribution line;
  • Flange fire, which simulates an above-ground regulator station or meter setting fire; and
  • Pit fire, which simulates a fire in an excavation pit.

The field training sessions are led by both utility and transmission employees, many of whom also serve as volunteer firefighters in their own communities.

“We would like to thank Columbia Gas for providing us with this excellent training opportunity,” said Vice President of the East Berlin Volunteer Fire Company Lance Biesecker. “The classroom portion was educational and the hands-on field training was very intense. The level of heat and noise created by burning gas at high pressures created an invaluable real life experience.”

In addition to the training, each participating fire department with non-profit status will receive a $500 grant from Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland and a $500 grant from Columbia Gas Transmission for the purchase of safety equipment.

During the spring of 2011, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Columbia Gas Transmission provided a similar training to fire departments throughout Western Pennsylvania. Overall, 24 fire departments attended the training in 2011 and Columbia is looking forward to continuing with the fire school in 2012.

About Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Columbia Gas of Maryland
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, with local headquarters in Canonsburg, Pa. (Washington County), serves approximately 414,000 customers in 26 counties. Columbia Gas of Maryland serves approximately 33,000 customers in Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties. They are two of the seven energy distributioncompanies of NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI). NiSource distribution companies serve 3.8 million natural gas and electric customers primarily in nine states. For more information about Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland, visit www.ColumbiaGasPa.com and www.ColumbiaGasMd.com.