Atmos coordinating relighting project for Tupelo Furniture Market
Northern District Public Service Commissioner gets update on progress of natural gas restoration
TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – Northern District Public Service Commissioner Chris Brown spent part of his Thursday morning, at the Atmos Command Center, getting updates on the work to restore natural gas service to homes and businesses.
Commissioner Brown and his staff have been working with Atmos since the incident.
“Our pipeline safety division was on the scene as quickly as they could, to kind of evaluate and investigate what happened. They got work done pretty quick and turned it over to Atmos, they have been going full steam ahead since then,” Commissioner Brown said.
The massive project to restore natural gas street by street is coordinated by the Atmos Mobile Command Unit.
Highly skilled staffers monitor the process in real-time, staying in contact with technicians in the field. Spokesman Bobby Morgan says Atmos has brought in 700 employees from eight states for the restoration of natural gas service.
“The team is divided between construction and engineering, tasked with purging our system, making sure no air in pipelines, and the vast majority of our employees are part of service and operation, the men and women you see going into a home, relighting appliances, turning on gas at the meter, tremendous effort, and I have to tell you, the response from the community is overwhelming,” said Bobby Morgan, vice president of communications for the Mississippi Division.
The community is making sure that no Atmos Energy workers go hungry. Some restaurants have brought their mobile kitchens on-site to feed the workers.
Meals for employees are served in Building One, or an overflow tent. Morgan says the teams are working as quickly, and as safely as possible.
“Safety is paramount for us, this will take some time to restore everyone, but we have to do it safely,” Morgan said.
Morgan says once an Atmos team is on-site, at a home or business, the restoration process should take about 15 minutes.
Morgan also stresses that all Atmos employees will have name badges and no employee will ask for money on-site to restore service. For more information, go to atmosenergy.com/leecounty.
