Welcome back to Great Day Washington.
This segment is sponsored by Washington Gas.
Today is August 11th or 811 Day,
which is an annual initiative
to promote evacuation,
safety and damage prevention.
So if you're starting a home project,
don't just go digging right,
you got to call 811.
So here to share more safety measures
are Rosemary Langowski from Washington
Gas and Sarah Mcgruder Lyle,
CEO of the Common Ground Allian.
Lady, so great to have you.
So anything with our,
our let's start with what 811 i.
We've kind of mentioned it a little bit more,
but what is kind of the overall mission.
So 811 is the national one call number
that you can call anywhere in the country
and you'll be routed to A1 call center.
And when you are going to do a
project that requires digging,
no matter how shallow it is,
you want to call that number,
make sure that any buried utilis
in that area are marked so you t
hit them and cause a power outae
or a fiber outage or even worse,
you hit a gas.
Yeah, the
gas line is scary. How soon?
So someone knows they're have a project.
How soon should they be calling?
So in the DMV area, you need to
call at least two days prior
to digging. OK. And you know,
what's the real value?
So they, So they think I'm
going to have a project.
I'm going to go ahead and call.
And then what?
What is the value?
What does that service
provide? So the service is free to callers.
And what that does is it make everybody
that has something that's in tht
area we're going to be digging.
They come out and mark, so for instance,
Washington Gas, which is one of
common ground alliances members,
they will come and mark their utilities
so that this doesn't happen. Ye.
So show us what it, what happened here.
So this is an example of what
could happen if you don't call
to get your property marked.
For example, if you're using a
rod or a pin or a stake to instl
a fence post or a mailbox post,
you may be at risk for puncturing a gas line.
And that's exactly what we want
to avoid to keep everyone's saf.
And that's the thing you think
I'm just a mail, I'm just puttig
my mailbox and it's no big deal,
but you really don't know.
And then what happens if someboy
does puncture a gas line,
a fiber line, a power line.
So what you want to do,
you'll typically smell the gas .
It tends to smell like sulfur or Rhine eggs.
You want to vacate immediately,
get off the premises,
call 911 and then call our
Washington Gas emergency number,
which is 844 wash gas option on,
option one okay. And then for someone
who's calling that maybe speaks Spanish,
is there a service for them whee
they can understand what's happening,
they can explain what's happenig
to. So washing Gas has a robust damage
prevention program where we have
bilingual trainers that will serve DC,
Maryland and Virginia.
I service Virginia and we will o
out to your facility or your company,
your job site and provide that
training in Spanish or in Engli.
And we also invite you to come
to Washington Gas for that
training in English or in Spani.
We also provide breakfast.
So you get a free safety traini,
free breakfast and I think that's a win.
Win. Yeah, that that
works there. Do you have a messe
for our Spanish speaking viewer?
Yes. Of Seco Lomas importante dy
del Mensaj esque todos yaman a ocho Uno
Uno antes excavar qual quierte en po cs
una pulgada or the VSPS Devon de Yammer.
Good show. And Sarah,
I know inevitably somebody's
not going to call, right?
I mean just not thinking but
calling and getting these
marks saves lives, absolutely.
So just in the DMV area in
2021 there were 6000 diggings,
which is about 16 damages a day and they
can go anywhere from just you know be
anything like just a disruption to fiber.
But it can also be you hit the n
line into a hospital or the 911 center.
We've actually had that happen before
in other parts of the country or if you
hit a gas line mean it could, you know,
could be serious injury or even death.
So we want to make sure that wee
always digging with care and tht
we allow the facility owners toe
in and mark those prior to digg.
So
free service call 2 days ahead d
you can avoid a lot of headache
and a lot of maybe injury as we.
Thank you so much. Great information.
Again, call 811 or you go to call811.com
for all the information you nee.