Code Red Alerts Residents Of Gas Pipeline Project

The town has used its Code Red automated emergency notification system to make a group of residents in the northwest corner of town aware that a natural gas pipeline project in adjacent Brookfield would be underway and would result in the odor of gas and noise in that area.

Bill Halstead, the director of emergency management, said this week that on Friday, September 12, the town issued a Code Red recorded telephone message to 48 addresses in the Hawleyville neighborhood including Farrell Road, Patricia Lane, and Nelson Lane.

The message explained that the Iroquois Natural Gas Transmission System would be doing pipeline work in the adjacent Whisconier section of Brookfield on Saturday, September 13. That work involved purging a pipeline section of its natural gas, resulting in a strong odor of gas and loud noise.

On the morning of September 13, the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company received two calls from residents concerning the odor of natural gas, one from Meridian Ridge Road and the other from Mt Pleasant Road, according to town fire reports.

The Code Red notification system can be targeted to call specific addresses, allowing town officials to notify only the people affected by a given situation.

The town has used the Code Red system about 15 times for various reasons since acquiring it in March 2007.