Shaw Residents Hope for Consistent Holiday Heat
posted 4:18 pm Mon December 24, 2007 - Washington
Ralph Williams still talks about the recent night when his home on Columbia Street NW lost its gas and heat.
"It was unpleasant, that's for sure," he said.
Over on Q Street, Ray Milefsky has had it happen to him over over again.
"This is the fifth time in two weeks," he recalled.
The problem - vintage gas lines below certain streets fill with water when it rains. The fluid mixes with the gas and gums up the lines into houses. Ray Milefsky constantly checks his burner. Lately he confesses he's afraid to leave his house.
"The pilots will go out, the house will fill with gas as well as the heat will go off," he said.
A Washington Gas spokesperson says the utility is aware of the outages and plans to replace antiquated lines. On columbia street residents say workers began work, but then delayed it.
"It's also bad because it's the holidays and the guys really haven't been around to continue working on this," said Meladie Edmund.
Adding to the residents anger are the 'no parking until mid-February' notices that line the streets, even though no repair work is underway.
Washington Gas refused to offer a specific timeline for when repair work will resume, saying only sometime in the near future.
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