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City workers make repairs Tuesday morning at the damaged gas feeder.

Kaplan working to fix natural gas outage

Accident will cost Kaplan $150,000; businesses also affected by no gas

KAPLAN — The estimate that natural gas will again be available to Kaplan and surrounding areas by the end of the week is a best-case scenario.
However, the price tag the City of Kaplan will face after a driver crashed into the city’s main natural gas feeder early Sunday will be a less desirable scenario. The driver fled the scene and no arrest has been made.
“The vehicle had $25,000 of insurance,” Kaplan Mayor Kirk Champagne said Tuesday morning. “If I had to estimate right now, we are probably going to end up with a bill of $150,000-plus.
“This is a big, big hit for Kaplan.”
Word that spread Tuesday morning that gas will be out for another two weeks is not accurate, according to Champagne.
“That’s a false rumor,” Champagne said. “I don’t know where they got that.”
The city does have two contractors working as quickly as possible to have the gas up and running by the end of this week.
“One of the contractors is building a by-pass because the regulator station is completely destroyed,” Champagne explained. “We have to build a temporary by-pass.”
The other contractor is testing the gas lines that stretch well beyond the city. The test is required by the Department of Natural Resources.
“Our main line is nine miles long,” Champagne said. “Hopefully that test is successful. It has to hold for 24 hours.”
If that test is indeed successful, natural gas will be available Thursday.
“Everything has to fall in place for that to happen,” Champagne stressed. “If we find a leak during this test, we have to go repair it.
“The best-case scenario is having it available on Thursday.”
The city will then bring in a third
contractor.
“They will come in and start lighting,” Champagne said. “They have to purge and test the meters and then relight the pilots.”
When that time comes, the contractors will begin at Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital.
“Our priorities are the hospital and nursing home,” Champagne said. “Then the schools and businesses and then residences.”
The contractor informed Champagne that as many as a dozen people will be brought in to handle the lighting process.
“They told me they can probably get the whole town done in two days,” Champagne said.
In all, more than 2,500 customers have been affected. Brent Frith, owner of B’s Wild Wings is trying to make the best of the situation, as his grill and fryer run on natural gas and he cannot prepare his usual fried wings and other items.
“We actually opened last night,” Frith said Tuesday morning. “I took my (30 gallon) jambalaya pot and made some jambalaya and some black eyes all on propane.
“We are modifying and MacGyvering, basically.”
It worked.
“We did well,” Frith said. “We sold out. I am about to go start cooking again. The customers are appreciative because a lot of them can’t cook at their own homes.”
The school cafeterias are in a similar situation. Kaplan High principal Dr. Janet Guerrini said Tuesday’s menu included a cold wrap.
“The students are going to be fed,” Guerrini said. “It’s a tough situation, but you do your best.”
It’s also a situation that makes people think about something that they maybe take for granted.
“A lot of people definitely take it for granted,” Frith said. “They are going to appreciate their hot water and gas stove now.”

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