School was canceled for students and staff at Bentworth School District Friday out of an abundance of caution after a gas line substation caught fire in Bentleyville.
Around 6:45 a.m., crews were called to Johnston Road about a reported pipe on fire. Upon discovering a small fire in a valve, firefighters took meter readings of the area to make sure there were no hazardous conditions. Crews were initially planning to evacuate neighbors but decided that wasn’t necessary.
“What we know so far, the fire didn’t involve the transmission line. That’s more of a metering station, and it was more of a smaller meter that was on fire,” said Assistant Chief Dominic Sicchitano of the Bentleyville VFD. “Luckily, today was handled very quickly by the response of all agencies.”
Equitrans and People’s Gas both have substations in the area, who got the fire under control in less than 30 minutes.
“We don’t touch anything. Once the gas company arrived on scene, basically what we would do is protect exposures. There was no exposure to a house or anything,” Sicchitano said.
Firefighters said the gas well sits behind school district property, which likely played a role in the decision to keep students home.
As for the cause, Equitrans is conducting its own investigation, along with the state police fire marshal.
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