Elkhorn fire report sparks blame questions
Gas line segments sequestered by police
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Investigators
are stockpiling evidence after this tree-removal truck severed a gas pipe in the Sunrise
subdivision a month ago. The resulting explosion destroyed two houses and severely damaged
a third. (Express photos by Willy Cook)
Following preliminary investigations, public and private authorities
have concluded an explosion and resulting fire that destroyed two homes in Elkhorn’s
Sunrise subdivision nearly a month ago were the result of the severing of a gas pipe by a
tree-removal truck digging between the houses.
A major remaining question, authorities say, is whether markings spray
painted on the ground to indicate where the gas pipe was buried—and where not to
dig—were positioned correctly.
Also, investigators disagree on whether enough of the markings, called
dig lines, were still visible after being scorched by the fire to determine where the dig
lines had been positioned.
These issues stemmed from a package of reports from the state fire
marshal and Sun Valley’s fire and police chiefs. Attached documents included written
witness statements, police incident reports and correspondence from an insurance
company’s lawyer and private investigator.
Sun Valley Fire Chief Jeff Carnes made the reports public.
"Everybody has different interests," Sun Valley police chief
Cam Daggett said Monday of the investigators.
Police were satisfied after they determined no crime had been
committed, Daggett said in an interview. Firefighters, he said, want to learn how to avoid
similar accidents in the future.
But investigators hired by the insurance companies are driven to ensure
their clients don’t pay, Daggett observed.
"Jake Jacobsen is a little aggressive," Daggett said of one
private investigator working for USAA Insurance, which holds the policy for one of the
homeowners. "His interests are totally different" from publicly funded
investigators, he said.
During a telephone interview from his Boise office, Jacobsen
contradicted the police and fire departments by saying "we found significant evidence
of dig lines" still remaining during the investigation.
This was a reference to police and fire officials saying that not all
of the gas line markings were still visible on the ground.
However, Fire Chief Carnes suggested that whether the dig lines were
burned away "depends on which insurance company you work for. The one thing I can
tell you is the dig lines were obliterated."
Investigators do agree that proof of the dig lines being positioned
incorrectly would likely place blame for the fire on the person or company that marked
them.
Intermountain Gas Co., which in the Wood River Valley sprays the dig
lines as a service to anyone planning excavation, may have to deal with that issue,
according to Mike Huntington, vice president of marketing and external affairs for the
company.
Gas company technicians use hand-held electronic equipment to determine
the location of any buried gas pipes. Once the location has been determined, the
technician sprays a dig line on the ground to indicate where not to dig.
Gas company vice president of operations Eldon Book said, "We try
to get as close as we can." But, he added, he has "no idea" how accurate
the method is.
Book said the gas company occasionally uses maps as an additional aid
in locating the pipes, but whether maps were used in this case has not yet been
determined.
Landscaping contractor Lawrence Mayle, who hired the tree removal
service, said in a written police statement that the dig line was located approximately
one foot away from the house.
Mayle said he and tree-removal truck operator Mike Shetler measured the
distance from the dig line to the tree they were removing. That distance was over four
feet, Mayle said, leaving at least a two feet margin of error for the truck to work safely
within.
During the investigation, however, when the entire gas pipe was
unearthed, it proved to be located 11 feet away from the house, not one, State Fire
Marshal Don Dillard wrote in his report.
A gas company representative indicated that the pipe had been
repositioned "quite some time ago" to accommodate an add-on to the house,
Dillard’s report said.
In any case, investigators have little doubt that Shetler cut the gas
pipe, even if they disagree about the location of the dig line.
As evidence, insurance company investigator Jacobsen logged two
eight-inch segments of the gas line with the Sun Valley Police Department on Oct. 28.
Five days later, Jacobsen logged another piece of pipe as evidence with
the police department, this time taken from the root ball of the tree, which had since
been replanted in Hailey.
In a letter to police chief Daggett, a USAA Insurance company lawyer
asked that the police department "not release this evidence to either [USAA
Insurance] or Intermountain Gas Co. without the agreement of both the parties
involved."
"There is positive evidence to prove what happened," Jacobsen
said during Monday’s interview. However, he added, he could not comment on whether he
thought the dig line was marked incorrectly.
Investigators have gathered "quite a bit" of other evidence,
Jacobsen said, including a gas supply meter from one of the houses.
Damages from the explosion and fire have been estimated by the Sun
Valley Fire Department at more than $1.6 million. Insurance company and gas company
representatives declined to comment on any pending litigation.
However, Carnes and Daggett both said that in their experience,
involved parties could prepare for a year or more before taking a matter like the Elkhorn
explosion and fire to court.
