Talk to any emergency responder in a natural gas drilling-heavy area of Pennsylvania, and he'll probably tell you it's 'only a matter of time' before a Marcellus Shale well blows up.
Whether it's the anticipated 'big one,' or day-to-day injuries on site, the natural gas boom is creating new challenges for firefighters and the Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner's Office is working to prepare emergency responders for when the call arrives.
In Lock Haven, Clinton County, about 20 emergency responders are sitting in a fire hall, learning the details of how a natural gas well is "fracked." A voiceover explains the details in a video, as muzak plays in the background: "It takes over 350 pieces of pipe, weighing nearly 87 tons, to drill a 10,500-foot well," the voice explains.
