MONROE TWP. - Elizabeth Ide said her husband, Mark, rousted her out of bed around 3 a.m. Friday, but not to go after post-Thanksgiving sales.
There was a loud noise that apparently came from a nearby gas dehydration facility, and it went on for more than 30 minutes, she said.
"There were no warnings and no one ever explained anything," Mrs. Ide said.
Kunkle Fire Chief Jack Dodson said he had tankers and an ambulance near the Chapin Dehydration Plant's driveway entrance to Hildebrandt Road within minutes, "but our protocol is not to enter a gas site until the plant operator arrives."
Chief Dodson acknowledged he heard the loud noise, saying it was akin to a freight train going by or large plane landing, and it was emanating from something being spewed in the air 50 to 100 feet.
People near Frances Slocum State Park, 5 miles away, apparently heard it and numerous residents from both Dallas Twp., Luzerne County, and Monroe Twp., Wyoming County, were alarmed, Chief Dodson said.
He noted the alarm went out over Luzerne County 911 at 2:57 a.m. and Kunkle responded at 2:59 a.m. PVR Partners plant operator John Stoner was on scene 20 minutes later and the gas flow was shut down at 3:32 a.m. His emergency responders were back at their station by 4:30.
Ed Senavaitis, safety and regulatory compliance manager for PVR Partners, based in Williamsport, said a safety device at the Chapin facility operated as intended.
He said there was no overcompression of the line, but something malfunctioned "and we'll conduct an investigation until we figure it out."
He said he had no idea about the volume of material that dissipated into the atmosphere.
"The safety device is designed to relieve gas as needed and when our manager arrived, he closed a valve and put everything back into normal operations mode," Mr. Senavaitis said.
Chief Dodson and Mr. Senavaitis both confirmed that at no time was anyone in danger.
"I thought there wasn't supposed to be any noise, and here we've had two incidents," Mrs. Ide said.
"We were lucky this time, and not a few people were very nervous," Chief Dodson said. "We all deserve better than that."
Contact the writer: bbaker@wcexaminer.com