The Public Service Commission (PSC) launched a task force to address antiquated and defective fire hydrants — like the three fire hydrants that failed to deliver water while a West Side, Charleston house burned down.
Updated on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 5:15 p.m.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) launched a task force to address antiquated and defective fire hydrants — like the three fire hydrants that failed to deliver water while a West Side, Charleston house burned down.
The homeowner filed a lawsuit against water utility West Virginia American Water. The utility is arguing that it was not their responsibility to guarantee functioning fire hydrants.
A few months after the fire, the PSC launched an investigation into fire hydrants across the state. The investigation depended on utilities to report working fire hydrants. In October, Charlotte Lane, chair of the PSC, asked the West Virginia Legislature to grant the PSC regulatory power over the fire hydrants and asked for a fiscal note for testing.
What the commission got in the end was a bill creating a task force that brings stakeholders and experts to the table to make fire hydrants the responsibility of water utilities — officially.
“People hadn’t really focused on fire hydrants,” Lane said. “The incident on the West Side did bring it into focus and we determined that there was no clear cut law as to who was responsible.”
Lane said the task force will be made up of stakeholders like the West Virginia Rural Water Association, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, county commissioners and fire chiefs.
The task force will meet and discuss adopting national standards for fire hydrants in the state, and review and process rules for managing fire hydrants. Lane said that for fire hydrants, age is just a number, and that “float” testing will determine if the hydrants are adequately functioning.
“I think the magic is that the fire hydrants pass the inspection and the flow testing, and then no matter how old they are, if the water pressure is there, then the fire hydrant should be okay,” Lane said.
Safer fire hydrants could translate into higher water costs for some utilities customers.
“Seems to me that anything dealing with infrastructure today is very expensive,” Lane said. “But that’s one of the facts of life that we need to keep up on.”
She said that if water utilities do not have fire hydrant management and care built into their rates, or if new regulations result in the utilities investing money into hydrants, then it’s possible that utilities will raise rates.
“If that happens, we will scrutinize their numbers. And we will rule on whether or not increases are necessary,” Lane said.
Gov. Jim Justice signed the legislation into law Wednesday.
The PSC’s staff filed a motion last week to compel West Virginia American Water to provide the information it requested in early December.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission’s staff says West Virginia American Water hasn’t shared the information it requested regarding a November water leak and gas outage in Charleston.
The PSC’s staff filed a motion last week to compel West Virginia American Water to provide the information it requested in early December.
PSC staff had asked the company to reply by Dec. 26. In its filing last week, the PSC staff says West Virginia American Water had failed to provide much of the requested information.
It accused the company of throwing “shade” on the PSC staff’s general investigation of the November event, which left hundreds of West Side residents without gas service, in some cases for weeks.
West Virginia American Water, in a subsequent filing, says a meeting will be scheduled this week with PSC staff to resolve the issues they raised.
West Virginia American water has said it’s premature to pin the gas outages on the water main failure. It also said it would cooperate with the PSC investigation.
Rob Burton told the state legislature on Monday that it’s not certain a broken water main caused hundreds of residents on Charleston’s West Side to lose gas service last month.
Rob Burton, the president of West Virginia American Water, told the state legislature on Monday that it’s not certain a broken water main caused hundreds of residents on Charleston’s West Side to lose gas service last month.
Burton, testifying to the joint standing committee on technology and infrastructure, said the eight-inch iron pipe was installed in 1989 and could be expected to last 80 to 100 years. He said no problems with the pipe had been detected.
“The eight-inch ductile iron main was in good condition, with no history of leaks, repairs or customer issues dating back through our readily available records since 2009,” Burton testified.
From the beginning of the outage on Nov. 10, Gov. Jim Justice has blamed West Virginia American Water for causing it. Mountaineer Gas has sued the water company, and the state Public Service Commission is investigating.
Burton pushed back in his testimony Monday.
“Until there is a full investigation,” he said, “prematurely declaring what caused this incident will not be helpful to prevent such an event in the future.”
Burton said Mountaineer Gas has not provided details about the age and condition of its pipe.
“Does the gas line have a leak history?” Burton asked. “It is also unknown as to which underground utility broke first.”
Burton also said Mountaineer Gas has not explained why it couldn’t isolate more of its gas lines as the water spread through them. Water ultimately got into 46 miles of gas lines and many customers’ household service lines.
West Virginia American Water is offering a reimbursement to affected residents of as much as $2,000, provided they sign a waiver.
Mountaineer Gas Company filed a lawsuit against West Virginia American Water Company Monday in response to a three week gas outage on the West Side of Charleston.
Mountaineer Gas Company filed a lawsuit against West Virginia American Water Company Monday in response to a three week gas outage on the West Side of Charleston.
When a water main ruptured on Nov. 10, water flooded mountaineer gas lines, leaving around 1,500 residents without access to natural gas.
Hundreds of residents had appliances damaged or destroyed, which Mountaineer Gas is currently having replaced or fixed. Mountaineer Gas blamed the outage on the failure of West Virginia American Water facilities.
“We firmly believe the interruption of gas service to our customers is a direct result of the failure of the West Virginia American Water Company facilities, and we feel West Virginia American Water should be responsible for the significant costs incurred by Mountaineer,” said Senior Vice President Moses Skaff
Mountaineer Gas, in their lawsuit, demanded that all the costs of the gas outage be paid for by the water company.
West Virginia American Water said that any speculation on the cause of its main line water break, or the gas outage is premature until an investigation is complete.
“West Virginia American Water continues to reiterate that any speculation on the cause of its water main break or the Mountaineer Gas outage is premature until an investigation is complete. The company will fully cooperate with the Public Service Commission on its general investigation to determine the cause,” said Megan Hannah, spokesperson for West Virginia American Water.
On this West Virginia Week, we learned about human trafficking in the state. We heard from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., about his decision not to run again for the U.S. Senate. We also heard from community members on the West Side in Charleston facing the natural gas outage.
On this West Virginia Week, we learned about human trafficking in the state.
We heard from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., about his decision not to run again for the U.S. Senate.
We also heard from community members on the West Side in Charleston facing the natural gas outage.
Briana Heaney is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caroline MacGregor, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Liz McCormick, and Randy Yohe.
Mountaineer Gas said it has restored 100 percent of water-filled gas lines on the West Side of Charleston. However many residents are still without heat, and the outages are taking a toll on the community.
Mountaineer Gas said it has restored 100 percent of water-filled gas lines on the West Side of Charleston. However, many residents are still without heat, and the outages are taking a toll on the community.
One of those residents is Margaret Mahr, who sat in her home with an overcoat on and space heaters placed around the room.
The temperature outside was 28 degrees. Her floors were still ice cold from the 18 days she has spent without heat.
She had a technician visit her house that day for the fourth time. He was able to get her furnace running but later that evening it went out again.
At the time of publication, she said she still does not have heat or hot water.
“You hear on the news, ‘Oh, 1,100 people are all set now, the heat’s on,’ you know,” Mahr said. “It makes me angry when I see that on the news. We are still suffering over here.”
The gas outage lasted around two weeks and affected 1,500 Mountaineer Gas Company customers. It was caused by a West Virginia American Water line break. The water infiltrated the gas lines.
Mountaineer Gas said the 46 miles of gas lines affected have been drained and fully restored. However, many home appliances like water heaters, furnaces and stoves were damaged or destroyed when water entered the gas lines. Many households, like Mahr’s, are still without hot water or heat.
Jay Marino owns one of the contracted companies responsible with getting water damaged appliances fixed or replaced. His office’s garage was filled with boxes of new water heaters and furnaces. Outside, he had dozens of water destroyed appliances that his crew took out of homes.
The water pumped into many residents’ houses and broke their appliances. These are all water damaged appliances.
Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“That’s the extreme, you never see this. You never see this volume,” Marino said walking through his gated lot looking at the broken appliances.
Since the early days of the outage, his company has been carrying triple the case load they normally do.
He said his teams have been working nonstop.
“They’re tired. They’re working 14-15 hours a day,” Marino said. “They haven’t stopped in two weeks. They worked through Thanksgiving. We gave them a couple of hours off for dinner and then they’re back at it.”
The West Side, where the gas outage occurred, is a lower income neighborhood of Charleston with a high percentage of residents who are people of color.
Mahr said she believes that other more affluent areas would have had a different response, but because of preconceived notions about her neighborhood she thinks the crisis has not been treated with urgency — leaving her and other residents in the cold.
“Because it’s the West Side, we’re still sitting here. You know what I’m saying?” Mahr said.
Khaly Le said she lost everything in the fire. She said she had family heirlooms that are now completely gone.
Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
On Saturday, Nov. 25, Khaly Le’s house burned down after multiple portable heaters were attached to the outlet by an extension cord, which became overloaded and caused the fire. She said she had to jump out of the second-story window with her son.
Both were hospitalized after and have third degree burns all on their bodies. The fire left two others homeless.
Khaly Le sustained third degree burns all over her body. Her hands are burned and scabbed after escaping the fire and jumping out of her third story window. Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public BroadcastingKhaly Le said her hair was one fire and burnt off in tuffs. It burned around her face and both of her ears. Credit: Briana Heaney/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
She said the American Red Cross gave her $600 for a hotel. She said she has not heard anything from the gas company since the fire.
On Nov. 21, the Charleston City Council wrote a letter to the state Public Service Commission (PSC) asking them to delay or reject a proposed four percent rate increase for Mountaineer Gas and a one percent increase for West Virginia American Water.
“While this small action would not make the West Side residents whole, it would at least allow them to avoid another drastic rate increase, as they are still recovering from a severe service interruption that was costly to them,” the letter said.
City Councilman Larry Moore signed the letter. His entire district was without gas.
Moore said the cost to people’s health, and property, as well as the likely increase in people’s utility bills due to the use of portable heaters are all reasons why the PSC should consider waiting to approve an increase.
“Hopefully this sheds light and they can see that the infrastructure needs work badly,” Moore said. “Before our rates go up, can we get our infrastructure fixed?”
Mountaineer Gas has said it will credit West Side residents accounts with $75 off their next bill.
The Public Service Commission opened an investigation on Nov. 16 to look into the widespread gas outage and the utilities’ response to the outage.
