NStar: Contractor nicked another gas line just two days before house exploded

Bob Houser, whose house exploded yesterday, asked Mayor Tom Menino for help tonight.

An NStar official told 100 Readville residents tonight that workers for the contractor who managed to blow up a house yesterday nicked another gas line nearby two days ago. Bill McCabe, director of gas distribution for NStar, which services the Danny Road area, said at the time, a company inspector did not think the damage to the plastic line, done with a hand shovel, was troublesome, but as a precaution had several feet of the pipe replaced.

He said workers used a shovel because the pipe had been marked off and that this had nothing to do with Wednesday morning's explosion, which destroyed one house, heavily damaged another and blew out windows for a couple blocks around. But residents, many visibly angry and frustrated, said this was just another example of possibly shoddy and annoying work being done by Defelice Corp., the low bidder on a Boston Water and Sewer Commission project to replace water mains in the area.

At the meeting, held at the Hyde Park municipal building, residents said they'd been complaining to BWSC for more than a week about cracked walls - and in one case shattered dishes - caused by workers dropping heavy mains into the ground from significant heights. Residents complained of water service being turned off - then not being restored until they had made several calls to the commission. They also complained the commission gave them misinformation about just what Defelice was doing - one Danny Road resident said she had been assure the company would not be digging up the street.

"Slam! Boom boom, boom!" Houser recalled. "Slam slam slam!"

"For Christ's sake, I wish to hell you lived right next door to me and your house blew up," one Danny Road resident - whose house is now uninhabitable, yelled at Menino. Menino lives about three blocks away. He said he and other city officials spent most of today trying to figure out how to help residents - the city will be setting up an office at the municipal building tomorrow to get help residents with everything from setting up inspections to filing insurance claims.

Inspectors for the state Department of Public Utilities hope to have an answer by next week on why the gas main pulled up by a backhoes yesterday was apparently not marked on the street. John Sullivan, the commission's chief engineer, said DeFelice did call DigSafe, which provides information on buried gas and utility lines, but he does not know why the main in this case was not marked on the road.

Sullivan said Defelice had completed three other projects, worth about $5 million, for the city without problems. Residents wondered why the city was letting the company finish the Danny Road work - its workers will be on site through Monday. Sullivan said inspectors from the city and Nstar will be all over the workers to make sure they don't pull up any more gas lines.