NTSB: Expansive soil pulled gas pipes loose before deadly Jackson explosions
The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that natural gas explosions in January destroyed two homes in Jackson after underground pipes pulled loose from their fittings as spongy Yazoo clay expanded and contracted with rainfall. The first blast on Jan. 24 killed Clara Barbour, 82, the board said.
The NTSB said the Jan. 24 explosion and fire injured Barbour’s husband, Johnny Barbour. Three days later, about three-quarters of a mile away, another explosion leveled one home and burned a neighboring house, the board said; no one was injured in that second blast. Investigators found that in both cases the pipes feeding the homes had pulled loose from their couplings, allowing dangerous levels of gas to accumulate.
The board said Atmos Energy Corp., the natural gas utility that serves Jackson, had detected leaks before the explosions but classified them as nonhazardous or low priority. The lease at the Barbour home was detected Nov. 17, 2023, and an Atmos technician declared it nonhazardous, the NTSB said. A leak at the second home was detected Dec. 1, 2023, and scheduled for repair within three years, the report said. After the Jan. explosions, Atmos re-evaluated leaks in Jackson and found some were more serious than initially reported, the board said.
The NTSB faulted Atmos for not adequately assessing risks posed by expansive soils, for inconsistent state-by-state procedures and for failing to sufficiently educate the public and emergency officials about how to respond to gas leaks. Investigators noted regulators had warned about expansive soils since 2008 and said the NTSB had identified expansive soils as a factor in a 2018 Atmos explosion in Dallas that killed one person and injured four. “Atmos has had significant safety shortfalls in recent years,” the board wrote, and added that “Atmos’s multistate operations require broader oversight.” The board recommended that Atmos identify and replace couplings susceptible to pullout.
Atmos spokesman Bobby Morgan said safety remains “our highest priority.” “We will work diligently in the coming days and weeks to evaluate the findings as part of our ongoing safety efforts to further our vision to be the safest provider of natural gas services,” Morgan said in a statement. Atmos distributes natural gas in Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, the company says.
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