(Image: Seattle Fire)

Puget Sound Energy is blaming the city’s electrical infrastructure for last week’s natural gas fire that burned through the pavement in the Central District, sending flames shooting out of the street and sidewalks around E Cherry.

Though there were no reported injuries and damage was limited to city streets, District 3 representative Kshama Sawant is calling for a deeper investigation into the incident, the dangers “for-profit energy companies unilaterally impose on our communities,” and “the risks of continued reliance on climate-harming fossil fuels.”

“Last Wednesday, February 24, the lives of thousands of residents and workers in Seattle’s Central District were disrupted because of a dangerous underground gas leak and fire, involving pipes controlled by the for-profit PSE,” the City Council representative for Capitol Hill and the Central District writes in a February 27th letter (PDF) to David Danner, chair of the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission. “But for the rapid and expert work of the union workers at the Seattle Fire Department (Firefighters Local 27) and PSE (Electrical Workers Local 77), who put themselves in harm’s way when they responded to this dangerous situation, stopping the leaking gas and extinguishing the fire, we might have seen a catastrophic disaster in our city.”

2700 Blk. of E. Cherry St.: this is confirmed to be a natural gas leak, the gas has ignited and melted through asphalt. One block in each direction from MLK Jr. Way and E. Cherry St. evacuated. pic.twitter.com/ua5TlnE7nZ

— Seattle Fire Dept. (@SeattleFire) February 24, 2021

Sawant has called on Mayor Jenny Durkan to join her in demanding a “comprehensive” review of the incident. “While the state UTC normally would probe Wednesday’s accident,” Sawant’s office says the investigation “needs to be much broader in scope, to include a comprehensive review of PSE’s entire gas piping and infrastructure system and an evaluation of the risks of future leaks, fires, and explosions.”

According to a spokesperson, Puget Sound Energy’s initial reports indicate the city’s electric system faulted, causing “the spark that damaged PSE’s natural gas equipment.”

PSE says when the power line fault occurred, heat from the electricity as it arced from one electric line to another burned and melted the natural gas pipe, allowing gas to escape.

“PSE responded to the scene within minutes to aid the fire department in its response and make the area safe,” the spokesperson said.

Puget Sound Energy is the state’s largest energy utility and is held by private investors including Alberta Investment Management Corporation, and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, and foreign pension funds OMERS, and PGGM. Sawant has taken on PSE before including over liquid natural gas manufacturing in Tacoma.

The Puget Sound Energy spokesperson did not directly address Sawant’s criticism and call for a wider probe.

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