Trinidad Natural Gas urges 811 call before summer digging projects

A weekend fence post, sprinkler trench or deck repair in Trinidad could have turned into a gas leak, a service outage or an evacuation if a buried line was struck. Trinidad Natural Gas used the start of summer digging season to press Las Animas County residents to call 811 before any shovel, auger or backhoe touched the ground.

Colorado 811 said the step was free, state-mandated and available by dialing 811 or using its online ticket system. Excavators were required to contact the center at least two full business days before digging, and utility locators were supposed to mark public lines within three business days with flags or painted marks. Colorado 811 summed up the rule in three blunt lines: “It’s free. It’s fast. It’s the law.”

The warning mattered most in a county where routine outdoor work often meant holes, posts and trenches. Colorado 811 said Colorado’s dig season was weather-dependent but generally ran from March through October, when residential and contractor projects picked up across the state. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has said the number one reason underground utility damages occurred was failure to contact 811 before digging, and Colorado 811 executive director Claudia Randall has tied that message directly to the state’s dig season.

The free locate process did not cover private utility lines, which meant property owners sometimes needed a private locator after the public utility ticket was confirmed. Colorado 811 also said emergency and damage ticket requests were available around the clock, 24/7, for situations that could not wait.

The issue had a broader policy backdrop as well. Colorado created the Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission in 2018 to recommend best practices, training and safety policy for the 811 system, and Colorado 811 was required to submit an annual report each July 1 covering locate-request and renotification data from the previous year. Nationally, the Common Ground Alliance’s 2024 DIRT Report reviewed 196,977 damage cases and said its index rose from 94.0 in 2023 to 96.7 in 2024, a sign that utility-damage conditions worsened rather than improved.

For Trinidad and the rest of Las Animas County, the message was straightforward: a few days of waiting before the first cut into the soil could prevent a dangerous strike and spare neighbors from the fallout.