Columbia Gas Reports Possible Over-Pressurization In Monson

MONSON (CBS) – Columbia Gas teams responded to Monson and Palmer after a "brief over pressure event" on Tuesday afternoon. The company says a gas control monitor showed a reading slightly above normal operating pressure on a mainline.

A knock on the door brought good news for Monson resident Barbara Hart. "Once the guy's here and he's checking everything and he's checking all the lines, I feel safe now," Hart said.

Not many folks in Monson and Palmer felt that way Tuesday afternoon when Columbia Gas informed officials in both towns that the main gas line had been briefly over-pressurized and that any residents who smelled gas should go outside and call 911.

"I think they should be more on top of their game," said Frank Pietrzykowski, who was among those who found Columbia Gas crews poking around his house. "I follow the news all the time and that's dangerous, it's nothing to play around with."

Columbia Gas was at the center of a series of explosions in the Merrimack Valley last year that killed one person. The explosions damaged more than 100 structures and left thousands without heat or hot water for weeks.

"My wife was having panic attacks freaking out," Pietrzykowski said. "It just doesn't seem like it's OK."

Columbia Gas says the problem was spotted and corrected within six minutes, insisting there was "no possibility" of a Merrimack Valley repeat because of "differences in the pipeline system."

"No threat but yet there's cops everywhere, and gas companies everywhere," Pietrzykowski said. "If there was no threat there would be one car."

Columbia Gas says the survey crews sent to check things out were merely precautionary, a product of lessons learned.

Police say they've received plenty of curiosity calls, but not a single one reporting the smell of leaking gas.