2013 Marks Village gas explosion
The 2013 Marks Village gas explosion was a major accident caused by deteriorated natural gas piping which killed one person, injured several others, and caused significant structural damage to one building in the Marks Village housing project in Gate City at 2:29 AM on December 17, 2013.
The explosion occurred inside unit 80, which occupied half of a 2-story duplex on the southwest corner of Joppa Court and 65th Courtway South (map). It was caused when either the furnace or a pilot light inside the unit ignited a build-up of natural gas that entered from below the floor slab. Unit 80 was almost completely destroyed in the explosion and the adjoining unit 79 was heavily damaged.
Tyrennis LaVal Mabry and her fiancé, Darryle Brown, were sleeping in a downstairs bedroom in unit 80. She was killed and he was critically injured. Mabry's three children, sleeping upstairs, were thrown of the apartment. Two of them were seriously injured. Six residents of unit 79 all escaped with only minor injuries. Debris from the explosion caused additional minor damage to nearby buildings.
The duplex where the blast occurred was set ablaze by the explosion. That fire was extinguished by the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service by 3:16 AM. A separate large torch-like blaze at a service pipe adjacent to the building continued to burn until Alagasco was able to isolate it by closing a valve upstream.
The incident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which oversees safety issues related to pipeline distribution systems. The build-up of gas that caused the explosion was traced to a fracture in a 2-inch diameter cast-iron distribution pipe about 45 feet away from the duplex, caused by pressure from a tree root and a stone on a section of pipe weakened by rust. The gas permeated adjacent soil and percolated through the ground and entered the apartment either by following sewer pipe trenches to below the floor slab or by entering the waste pipes through gaps and bubbling up through water traps under pressure. The soil apparently absorbed enough of the odorant added to the otherwise odorless gas that residents detected only a faint smell prior to the explosion. Immediately following the explosion, Alagasco workers also detected several smaller leaks in the vicinity which may have contributed to the incident.
Background
The cast iron gas distribution system at Marks Village was installed during the project's original construction in 1951-1952. With more than 900 miles of cast-iron pipe in its system schedules for replacement by 2031, much of which has been in service for decades longer, Alagasco had listed Marks Village near the bottom of its priority list.
Residents of Marks Village had reported smelling gas to the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District and to Alagasco numerous times between 2010 and 2013, and some repairs had been made to in-unit and below-ground pipes. The utility also repaired all leaks in main and service pipes detected by its own inspectors during scheduled maintenance in May 2011. None of the 2011 repairs, and none of the subsequent reports received by the utility specifically related to units 79 and 80. Residents of those two units do claim to have reported smelling gas to the HABD, but no record of those reports has been found.
Aftermath
Most residents of the complex were evacuated to either the Gate City Recreation Center or the Birmingham Police Department East Precinct while Alagasco made immediate repairs. Some permanently relocated to other public housing communities.
The damaged duplex was demolished after investigators completed their examination of the site of the explosion. In June 2014 the HABD board approved a $23,000 contract with Aho Architects to design a replacement for the two damaged apartments. Steel City Services was hired to manage the reconstruction project.
Alagasco and the Housing Authority came under immediate criticism after the explosion for apparent negligence in the maintenance of the gas pipeline system. Eight lawsuits were filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court on behalf of Mabry's family, Brown, the family in unit 79, and ninety-one other residents of the complex. Those suits were put on hold pending the results of the NTSB's investigation, which were released on March 30, 2016. The NTSB concluded that the explosion was, in fact, caused by a gas leak in a main distribution pipe, but did not endeavor to assign blame or find fault.
Meanwhile, the utility moved up the replacement of all cast-iron pipes at Marks Village and all other housing projects. The mains and service lines were replaced with polyethylene pipes to the meters, and new valves were added to the system to make it easier to isolate parts of the system for service. Alagasco also accelerated the pace of inspection for all cast-iron lines serving multi-family residences from every three years to every year and stepped up public education efforts.
References
- "Coroner identifies woman killed in Gate City apartment explosion" (December 17, 2013) WBRC.com
- Jones, Jessica (January 23, 2014) "Alagasco begins pipe replacement project in Marks Village." Birmingham Times
- Faulk, Kent (January 17, 2014) "91 Marks Village residents file lawsuit blaming Alagasco for Gate City explosion." The Birmingham News
- Stein, Kelsey (July 17, 2014) "7 months after Marks Village explosion, lawsuits stalled as National Transportation Safety Board continues investigation." The Birmingham News
- "Birmingham Public Housing Gas Explosion" (March 30, 2016) National Transportation Safety Board