Yes, The Same Mullen!

You may have read or heard about the natural gas explosion in Wappingers Falls this past Friday  afternoon which destroyed 4 town homes and injured several people, some seriously.  The cause of the explosion was a gas leak caused by a contractor hired by Central Hudson Gas & Electric to replace their underground natural gas pipes.  According to an online article I read, a Central Hudson spokesperson said the contractor was performing "routine maintenance."

What you may not know is that the contractor that caused the devastating explosion in Wappingers, J. Mullen & Sons, is the same contractor (and one of three or four involved in Hudson) that has been digging up our streets and sidewalks since July to replace National Grid's old metal natural gas pipes, and who just began laying new plastic pipes under the first of three blocks of Warren Street.  

One of the problems with National Grid's contractors starting their project so late in the year here in Hudson is that it might cause crews to rush to beat the cold days and snow coming soon.  That's when regrettable, sometimes simple but devastating mistakes can be made around gas lines.

It seems that the Mullen worker in Wappingers nicked a gas pipe that the company was not aware of.  As I reported on recently, Hudson DPW did the same exact thing on South 4th Street while repairing the water main break, but fortunately it was a water pipe that the backhoe ruptured, not a gas line.