Natural Gas Pipeline Ruptured By Idaho Rancher Breezes Help Decrease The Danger; No Effect On Customers Expected

The acrid smell of natural gas drifted on the Fernan Lake breeze Tuesday after a rancher broke open a pipeline while digging a trench across his property.

The escaping gas roared from the pipeline in a gravelly hiss that could be heard - and smelled - 300 yards away.

Earl Lunceford was using a ditch-digging machine to put a trench through his ranch property at 7150 E. Fernan Lake Road, said Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

Lunceford had intended to put in a water line.

But shortly after noon, the machinery hit the 6-inch steel gas pipeline buried three to four feet underground, Wolfinger said.

The high-pressure pipeline, owned by Northwest Pipeline Corp., ripped open and began spewing gas into the air.

It was the biggest pipeline break in Kootenai County in about 10 years, Wolfinger said.

Sheriff’s officials temporarily evacuated Lunceford’s home and blocked off roads into the area, fearing an explosion.

But breezes between 10 and 25 mph decreased the danger by dispersing the gas, Wolfinger said.

The odor and noise didn’t seem to bother several napping and grazing cows in a nearby field. But deputies and emergency workers kept a safe distance from the broken pipeline as they waited for a repair crew to arrive.

Northwest Pipeline Corp. provides natural gas to Washington Water Power Co. which, in turn, provides it to residential and business customers.

The pipeline through Lunceford’s property carries natural gas from a pipe in Spokane eastward to Kellogg, said Susan Flaim, a spokeswoman for the company.

“Warning: High Pressure Natural Gas Pipeline,” signs along Lunceford’s property say.

Idaho law requires people who are going to excavate on their property to call two days before digging to find out if any natural gas pipes or other lines are buried in their ground, said Dana Anderson, WWP spokeswoman.

Lunceford did not call, she said.

He declined to comment on the incident.

The typical penalty is restitution for damages, Anderson said.

Both Flaim and WWP officials said they do not expect customers to be affected by the broken pipeline. Some gas still was flowing through the pipeline and the company was not losing a “significant amount of gas,” Flaim said.

She also said no environmental damage will be caused by the escaping natural gas.

“It’s lighter than air, so it dissipates,” she said.

Northwest Pipeline and WWP repair crews were expected to work into the night fixing the damaged line.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo (Idaho edition only)