It was one week ago an explosion near Otterburne resulted in a gas outage to nearly four thousand customers in southern Manitoba. The fire occurred on a TransCanada Corporation natural gas pipeline between Otterburne and Highway 59.
More than three quarters of the affected customers were from the Rural Municipality of Hanover, prompting the opening of the EOC (Emergency Operation Centre). Hanover Deputy Reeve Bernie Stahn says the EOC team was formed nearly a decade ago, for cases just like this one. He says since that time, they've witnessed emergencies happen at other locations, but never in Hanover, until now. 
By mid-afternoon Saturday, customers in the Rural Municipalities of De Salaberry, Hanover and Ritchot were losing gas service and it was at that time, Hanover declared a Local State of Emergency. Stahn notes this allows the municipality to access resources in their communities, such as setting up warming shelters. By five o'clock a warming shelter was established at Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Grunthal and two hours later a similar shelter was set up at New Bothwell Christian Fellowship Church.
Stahn admits, it wasn't until Saturday evening that he learned of the impact this outage was having on his municipality. Having heard of the explosion Saturday morning, Stahn says he was out of cell range the rest of the day and it wasn't until he got service again that he heard his messages and discovered the impact.
Stahn says there wasn't a lot of panic coming from residents. Though residents were calling the EOC, looking for answers, Stahn says they were kept informed. He says both TransCanada Pipeline and Manitoba Hydro were also very vocal.
"They made sure they communicated with residents and there was a lot of media releases out there," recalls Stahn. "People I think were very well informed." He adds the EOC didn't field phone calls from people upset and the biggest question was, 'when will gas service be restored.'
When residents of the affected area awoke Monday morning, gas had still not been restored. Overnight however, another CNG tanker was connected to the community of Otterburne. Additional tanked supplies were connected to the communities of Ste. Agathe and St. Malo.
At a media briefing Monday afternoon, TransCanada Pipeline and Manitoba Hydro outlined plans for restoring service. The plan identified a two stage restoration process. The first stage would see gas restored Monday night to Rural Municipalities north of the damaged section of TransCanada's pipeline, including Ste. Agathe, Niverville, New Bothwell, Kleefeld and Marchand. The second stage would commence approximately twelve hours later, providing gas to the Rural Municipality of De Salaberry south of the damaged section including St. Malo, St. Pierre, Grunthal and Dufrost. Manitoba Hydro would then be sending out staff to each home, ensuring the service was working.
By three o'clock Tuesday morning, the natural gas supply was restored from TransCanada to Manitoba Hydro's distribution system in the Rural Municipalities of Hanover, Ritchot and La Broquerie. Ninety minutes later, Manitoba Hydro personnel began going door-to-door to confirm gas service had been properly restored and to relight pilot lights if necessary. 
The restoration of gas service to Hanover, prompted the closure of the warming shelter at New Bothwell Christian Fellowship Church. By mid-day the natural gas supply to the distribution system in the RM of De Salaberry began and by 4pm, all temporary CNG supplies were disconnected. That led to the Local State of Emergency being lifted in Hanover. By 9:30 Tuesday night, Manitoba Hydro reported natural gas service had been restored to south central Manitoba and that majority of the customer visits had been completed.
Stahn says an emergency like this reassures the need for an EOC team.
"When I was there watching the team, they worked together very well," recalls Stahn. "They were always dealing with the what ifs. What if this happens, what are we going to do?" He notes the team discussed what would potentially happen if the gas wouldn't flow for two or three weeks.
Stahn says he has heard of only a few instances of pipes freezing, but has heard no reports from livestock producers of animals lost through the ordeal. Henry Funk, a chicken farmer from the Grunthal area informed Steinbachonline Monday that he was able to keep his six day old chickens alive using diesel heat. While a temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit is preferred for the twenty thousand birds, Funk said the diesel heat was able to maintain a temperature of 75 degrees.
"He was constantly asking team members are we ready with this, have we done this, are we prepared for this," explains Stahn. "He's a wealth of knowledge in that and having been an ex-firefighter, he obviously has some experience in that kind of stuff. He was just invaluable during this whole exercise."
Stahn adds TransCanada Pipeline and Manitoba Hydro did an excellent job.
"They've communicated with all the residents," he says. "They were out there doing what they said they would do." Stahn says originally they didn't know when gas would be restored, but they handled it very well.
Thu, May 16, 12:00 PM
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