Columbia Gas Working to Train Firefighters to Handle Natural Gas Fires

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Columbia Gas, a major supplier of natural gas in Pennsylvania and a company that owns and uses a lot of gas pipelines, is training firefighters in how to handle natural gas fires:

More than 50 firefighters from 16 Western Pennsylvania fire departments recently completed specialized training on battling natural-gas fires, such as the one that ignited in February at a Marcellus shale drilling site in Washington County.

"It’s essential firefighters understand how to respond to a natural-gas fire because many times they are the first at the scene," said Carol Fox, president of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, which conducted the training at company facilities in Ellwood City in Lawrence County and Waynesburg in Greene County.

This fall, Columbia Gas will provide similar training to fire departments in eastern and central Pennsylvania.*

*Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (May 14, 2011) – Western Pennsylvania firefighters trained in natural-gas blazes