Fire engine stands ready as PSEG workers fix gas leak Wednesday.
It's a jungle out there, but most Plainfielders are probably not aware of it.
I mean the jungle of essential -- and potentially dangerous -- pipes, conduits and other paraphernalia that crisscross underneath the city's streets and supply us with the essentials of our daily lives.
From the water that comes out of our faucets to the gas for our stoves and furnaces, from the power lines that supply electricity to downtown stores to buried fiber optic cables that bring not only cable TV, but connect businesses to the Internet, Plainfield depends on the smooth operation of these disparate services.
Yesterday's gas leak (the second in two days in the same area) shut down East 2nd Street from Watchung to Roosevelt and Church Street from Front to past the Union County College buildings from about 10:30 AM (when I got the call) until after 5 PM, when I spotted one way traffic westbound on 2nd Street.
Though there was a strong odor of gas when I got to the area about 11:30 AM, the crew of ten or twelve PSEG workers were going about their jobs in a purposeful and apparently thorough, but unhurried manner. The impression was that they knew just what they were doing and had the situation under control.
Several workers were dealing with a narrow trench about 100 feet long in front of UCC's main building. Across the street, a solitary worker was digging in a hole in front of the gas station in what seemed like the main area of interest. Firefighters on alert lounged nearby and a female police officer stood guard in the area. 2nd Street was blocked at Watchung with a fire truck and two police vehicles.
How could a break like this happen?
Though New Jersey American Water vehicles were nowhere to be seen in the area yesterday, they have been working in that general area in the ongoing -- and huge -- project to upgrade the water mains throughout much of the city.
While working at City Hall, I learned (from the North Avenue reconstruction project) that the maps that the various utilities keep of the location of their underground services can vary greatly in quality.
Keeping in mind that underground services like water pipes and sanitary and storm sewer lines can be more than one hundred years old, it is not out of the ordinary to discover that things are not exactly where they are thought to be. And the only way that is discovered is by finding them where they are NOT expected. I'll leave it to the lawyers to figure out who is at 'fault', but suffice it to say that those who dig dig carefully.
The one business that really suffered was the gas station, Plainfield Auto Service, which lost more than 7 hours of its daily 15 hour schedule. I was told by an owner that the station gets a delivery of 33,000 gallons every two days. Doing the math, it looks to me like the station lost at least $27,000 in gasoline sales, not to mention work in the repair shop.
A CAUTIONARY TALE
While these most recent incidents appear to be relatively minor, and handled quickly and professionally, the whole experience raises questions about the general safety of Plainfielders should a disaster -- natural or man-made -- happen.
The Police Division's new mobile command center was nowhere in evidence, nor did I spot the city's Office of Emergency Management coordinator.
Which raises the question of the city's Disaster Preparedness Plan.
Where is it? Many cities have the public information component of their plans online. So, you can find Plainfield's online, right? Dream on.
The plan, which was massively updated during the simulated bioterrorist attack a few years ago, has as its major component a fully functioning and equipped acute-care hospital -- Muhlenberg.
Without Muhlenberg, the plan will need to be updated. Or maybe it already has been? With another hospital as the location to which the sick or wounded would be transported.
By the Plainfield Rescue Squad's only working ambulance.
Right past Muhlenberg for another 20 minutes or so to JFK. Or would it be over the highway and through the woods to Overlook? Or maybe a hop down traffic-clogged Rt 22 to Somerset MC. A zigzag through Piscataway's local streets to RWJ?
I'm sure it's all been planned out, and you can rest your little head without a worry.
I'm sure the Mayor has a plan.
It's probably called 'Unity through Disaster'.
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2 comments:
Thank goodness allthe higher ups in City Hall do NOT live in the City, they are out of danger should anything happen to the rest of us, and could give a complete report to FEMA once Brownie is sent in.
Hi, Dan,
I know that I have brought this up in the past, but a project that I was working on when I was working at PCTV-74 was on integrating the station into the city's emergency plan as part of the upgrades. I left all documents relating to this project on the station's computers and files. This project, which I kept the city administrator (at the time, Carlton McGee) abreast of through memos and a detailed plan, was to be an important component. I have mentioned this to the councilors through email and in conversation many times in the past. I attended meetings at Muhlenberg with the rest of the emergency management team and was preparing to meet a deadline (April 1, 2006) given to me by the city administrator/mayor's office to present Ch. 74's piece of the overall plan--emergency communications, alerts, telephone numbers, contact info, "what to do" and so forth--everything that was to be implemented in the city and at the county level. Don't know what happened--it went nowhere.
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