Unexpected risks of everyday gas conversions

Posted

Since a Nassau Ave. home was seriously damaged by an electrical fire while National Grid contractors were installing new high pressure gas service, several Malverne residents have spoken to the Herald about several potentially dangerous situations they’ve experienced during the installation of a new gas main or the utility’s automatic meter readers (AMR) throughout the village.

Susan Jaccino, who lives on Linmouth St., said the Nassau Ave. home reminded her of what could have happened to her own home last month. Jaccino had come home from work at 6 p.m. to find her house full of gas after her elderly father let the gas company in at 9 a.m. and National Grid contractors improperly changed her old gas meter to an AMR. Gas had been leaking into her house for nine hours. The change to the new gas meter was done without her knowledge or consent. “Anyone over the age of 18 can let National Grid into your house,” said Jaccino. “Permission from the home’s owner is not required.” Her father and father-in-law had been inside the house all day while the leak was happening.

Once Jaccino reported the leak, the utility arrived at her house in 30 minutes to fix the situation. “My mother wanted answers as to why this happened, why the workers didn’t check their work, and what their quality control policy is,” said Jaccino’s son Chris. “She called customer service for weeks, and no one was helping.”

One resident, who chose to remain anonymous, said that her Malverne Ave. block was evacuated last week because the water company, while laying their main in the street, had ticked a high pressure gas main. “They were able to get it under control, but safety protocol is that they do an evacuation because — God forbid the solution doesn’t work — everyone is already safe,” said Richard Bopp, second deputy in chief for the Malverne Volunteer Fire Department. Bopp also mentioned a past incident in Lakeview, when workers were drilling to install a new telephone pole and hit a gas main. That gas main actually ignited.

Another resident mentioned that when the gas company was capping off her gas main on Norwood Ave. recently, one of the workers on the job was smoking a cigar.

Page 1 / 2