Water Main Break Behind Company Store Briefly Disrupts Fort Bragg Businesses
Cause was railway track construction
A water main break behind Fort Bragg’s Company Store temporarily cut service to nearby businesses Tuesday afternoon, prompting a rapid response from city crews and drawing conflicting accounts about what caused the damage.
City Manager Isaac Whippy said the city received a call at approximately 12:30 p.m. reporting the break and immediately dispatched its public works team. Crews identified a damaged connection in the water line, completed repairs, and restored full service by about 1:30 p.m.
A few businesses in the area experienced a brief loss of water during the repair, according to Whippy.
“Based on our initial assessment, the damage to the water line was caused by work being conducted by Mendocino Railway in the area,” Whippy said. He added that the City did not receive an Underground Service Alert (USA) ticket for excavation activity at that location.
Robert Pinoli, president of Mendocino Railway, disputed key elements of the City’s assessment. He said the water line was not known to the railway and appeared to be unusually shallow.
“The water line was unbeknownst to us. It was about 12 inches down from the edge of the ties, surely not deep enough for a city utility,” Pinoli said, adding that regulations typically require utilities along rail corridors to be buried three to four feet deep.
Pinoli also said no permit was required because the work involved track construction rather than excavation, arguing that tie replacement does not trigger Underground Service Alert requirements.
“Changing ties is not digging or trenching,” he said. “A railroad tie is eight inches thick. A water line that sits four-ish inches below is a real issue.”
Despite the disagreement over cause and compliance, Pinoli said City staff responded quickly and worked with railway crews to restore service.
Whippy said the water line involved is an older piece of infrastructure, likely dating back to the 1950s or 1960s when the area was owned and operated by the Union Lumber Company. In coastal communities, he noted, legacy infrastructure does not always conform to modern installation standards.
However, Whippy emphasized that state law still requires contractors to notify Underground Service Alert before disturbing the ground so that utilities can be located and marked. “Regardless of the age or depth of a utility, state law requires that any excavation activity include proper Underground Service Alert notification,” he said.
The question of whether local permitting or notification requirements apply to railroad work can depend on the scope of federal preemption, an issue that has been the subject of ongoing legal disputes involving Mendocino Railway. Whippy said the city is continuing to review the incident to determine next steps.