The Leach Xpress Pipeline is 18 months old. It’s 36 inches in diameter, runs for 160 miles, and pushes 1.5 BCF of gas at 1440 pounds per square inch of pressure.
911 Emergency services received 37 calls within three minutes of 4:20 am. The fire burned until about 6:00 am, or 8:30 am, depending on which news report you find.
The burned area is about 10 acres.
This pipeline is pretty similar to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. It’s smaller, at 36 inches instead of 42 inches, and shorter at 160 miles instead of 303 miles for the MVP and 600 miles for the ACP. But they will both push the same amount of gas at the same pressure, and they will both run over more mountainous terrain.
This does not make me feel more comfortable to be living within 1000 feet of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline right of way.
Thankfully, this happened in a spot where there were no houses so no one was injured.