Gas tubing fires linked to lightning
WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Reports of lightning-related fires and gas leaks in at least a dozen states have sparked concerns about the use of flexible gas lines made of corrugated stainless steel tubing.
The same type of lightning strikes are suspected of causing fires in four homes in central Ohio over a stormy 12-hour period this summer. Genoa Township Fire Chief Gary Honeycutt said he believes lightning struck at or near the homes, and the electrical charge traveled along the plastic-coated metal tubing, known as CSST, before jumping to a less resistant pathway nearby such as a metal ventilation duct. It then punctured a hole the size of a pencil tip in the tubing and created a gas leak that could ignite, he said.
One of the fires charred the ceiling in the lowest level of Michael Wagner's dream home, a two-story property near a country club and golf course in an area where farmland has been turned into neatly manicured neighborhoods of newer homes.
The home passed inspection without problems, the family said, but they later learned lightning had struck it and created a gas leak in 2004.
Reports of such fires and gas leaks, ranging from such states as Florida, which has a high occurrence of lightning strikes, to those where strikes are less frequent, have led to lawsuits, studies and efforts to better track the incidents. Manufacturers defend CSST, which has become increasingly common in new homes since it was introduced domestically more than two decades ago, and fire officials and researchers are trying to determine whether to blame a faulty product, unsafe installation or something else.
Firefighters and gas providers point out that the fires seem to occur with an unusual combination of factors — a newer building that has CSST, a lightning strike in just the right place, the puncture of the tubing and the spark to ignite the gas. Most of the Ohio fires were in the central part of the state.
“I'd say we've got a problem with that product, but it's very anecdotal evidence that we have,” said state Fire Marshal Larry Flowers, who recently started collecting information about such fires around Ohio.
A class-action lawsuit filed in Arkansas against several manufacturers claimed the tubing posed an unreasonable risk of fire from lightning strikes, leading to a 2006 settlement that was worth up to about $29 million, according to a copy of the settlement agreement provided by an attorney not affiliated with the case. Lawyers involved in the case did not respond to messages for comment.
And an unresolved wrongful death lawsuit blames a CSST failure for a 2008 blaze that killed three children and their grandmother in rural Jefferson, S.D.
Manufacturers say the flexible tubing was developed in Japan as an alternative to rigid gas piping that could break during an earthquake, and hundreds of millions of feet of tubing have been installed in U.S. homes and other buildings. It can cost significantly more than black metal pipe, with one recent estimate putting the cost at 65 cents for a foot of rigid pipe in Ohio and about a dollar more for standard CSST. But the tubing is easier to install and can bend around corners, appearing much like a garden hose affixed to ceiling joists.
