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IPL, city intensify blast investigation
Round-the-clock patrols, outside help added to learn cause of freak explosions.

IPL worker David Holt climbs inside an electrical vault on Market Street to inspect wires that might be behind recent explosions. -- Kelly Wilkinson / The Star

By Diana Penner
diana.penner@indystar.com
January 11, 2005

Indianapolis Power & Light Co. crews will patrol Downtown 24 hours a day, and expert crews from other cities will help with underground inspections in what IPL calls an all-out effort to prevent more explosions.

IPL crews already have been working through the night to inspect the 1,000 manholes Downtown and by late Monday had examined about 200. The 16 additional crews from two other utility companies should allow the inspections to be completed in two weeks rather than by the end of the month, said Greg Fennig, IPL's vice president of public affairs.

He said other utility companies also are being consulted to help explain the surprising amount of destruction caused by Saturday's explosion.

IPL crews also will patrol the area bound by North, South, East and West streets, checking manholes for smoke or any other signs of trouble.

"We're trying to pull out all the stops," Fennig said.

Three explosions in nine days have left some people nervous about public safety and utility officials working nonstop to figure out what has caused the blasts and how to prevent them.

Indianapolis Fire Department investigators had not pinpointed the cause of the blasts Monday but had sent samples of substances collected to the Indianapolis Police Department bomb squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for analysis. No criminal or suspicious cause is suspected, but the ATF and the bomb squad have expertise in probing the causes of explosions, said IFD spokesman Gregg Harris.

He did not know how long it would take to get the test results but said it would be "as soon as possible."

The most recent blast occurred Saturday in the 100 block of West Market Street, where three people were injured and several businesses were damaged.

Wednesday, a blast in the 100 block of West North Street left nearly 400 Downtown customers without electricity for about four hours. A privately owned transformer exploded Dec. 31 in the 200 block of East Ohio Street.

Snow removal procedures are suspected as a factor in the second and third explosions, which involved cables, not transformers.

In cases of exploding manholes in other cities, including New York, road salt laid down after heavy snowfall has been blamed for underground combustion. Investigators have yet to determine whether the mix of salt and snowmelt is the culprit in Indianapolis.

In addition, the extensive damage caused to Bookland, 137 W. Market St., in Saturday's explosion has baffled investigators. That is where a man entering the store sustained a broken foot and other serious but not life-threatening injuries when he was thrown off his feet. Two women working at Bookland also were taken to a hospital to be examined but were unhurt.

Bookland's floor sustained massive damage from what looked like an explosion from the basement, and a steel door in the back was blown outward off its hinges and bent.

So far, no one at IPL or the other utility companies officials have consulted has ever seen anything like it, Fennig said.

Manhole explosions and underground power line fires don't happen often, he said, but they are not unheard of.

"What is totally uncommon is the destruction we saw on Saturday," Fennig said.

Robert Burns, senior research specialist and attorney with the National Regulatory Research Institute at Ohio State University, said heavy snows and road salt have been known to help trigger underground power line blasts.

"These things happen but infrequently and often after extreme local weather conditions."

Since Nov. 24, Indianapolis has had 16.8 inches of snow, compared with 5.6 inches during the same time in the 2003-2004 snow season, said Margie Smith-Simmons, spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. And this season, 11.4 inches fell in a short period -- Dec. 21-26.

The city has used more salt this season but not in proportion to the additional snow. Last winter, between Nov. 24 and Jan. 8, city crews put down nearly 12,400 tons of salt, Smith-Simmons said, compared with 17,200 tons this year.

Damage to insulation on underground power lines can expose electrical wires; add water and salt and there is the possibility of a short circuit, which adds sparks to an environment where fuel already exists.

If there is a bare spot on a cable, Burns said, the electrical current could travel to whatever it comes in contact with, perhaps conducted by salty water. There has been no indication in Indianapolis that natural gas has been involved in the explosions, but Burns said other flammable gases can be found with utility lines.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has not begun an investigation but is taking an interest in the blasts.

"The commission has been talking informally with IPL to get more information about what the company knows about the latest incidents," said Mary Beth Fisher, director of public information for the IURC.

Crystal Livers-Powers, spokeswoman for IPL, said crews are looking for any damage to power lines Downtown, in addition to smells or indications of the presence of any kind of gases. IPL crews found one trouble spot Monday and spliced in a foot of new cable to repair the line.

She said the 16 crews from other utility companies augmenting IPL's teams must be certified and trained to work in confined spaces and with underground utility lines.

That means they likely work in an urban area with underground power lines because rural suburban areas tend to have overhead power lines.

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