News Live: Gas leak in Washington causes evacuations

A gas leak in Washington City has caused the evacuation of 8-10 homes in the area, Washington, Utah, May 11, 2016 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

WASHINGTON CITY — A gas leak from a ruptured residential gas line that caused the evacuation of 8 to 10 homes near Green Springs Golf Course in Washington City Wednesday should be repaired soon, Questar Gas Operations Manager Brett Brown said.

UPDATE: Technicians were called in from the region to assist in repairing the broken gas main and were mobilized to the area, Questar Gas Operations Manager Brett Brown said. Approximately 240 homes on or near Fairview Drive were affected by the line break and resulting natural gas leak. Over 200 homes were still without gas services at the time this report was published.

Officials expected the gas line to be repaired by 10 p.m., after which a relighting process begins. Service should be restored by 11 p.m., Brown said.

A gas leak in Washington City has caused the evacuation of 8-10 homes in the area, Washington, Utah, May 11, 2016 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News
A gas leak in Washington City has caused the evacuation of 8-10 homes in the area, Washington, Utah, May 11, 2016 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George N

Affected residents initially were asked to leave by Washington City Police Department officers and told to stay away for an hour or more until officials could determine when it would be safe to return.

“We got a call about 4:30 this afternoon that a contractor had accidentally hit a four inch plastic gas line,” Questar spokesman Darren Shepherd said.

No estimate of the number of customers affected is available, Shepherd said, but he said the hope is to have gas service restored by approximately 8:30 p.m.

“We’re in the process of basically just digging some remote holes away from where the damaged pipe is, getting down to the pipe and squeezing it off on both sides of where the damage is,” Shepherd said. “That will stop the flow of gas coming from both directions and then once that’s taken care of we’ll get in and make the repairs to the line.”

Questar Gas is on scene. More information will be published when available.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

Public service reminder: It is important to always call 811, which reaches an underground utility locating service that is local to you, prior to starting a project that involves digging– whether you are a contractor using heavy equipment or a homeowner putting in a new fence – Blue Stakes of Utah, or the applicable locator company, will mark underground utility lines for free in order to prevent accidents and ensure people stay safe.

Resources

Blue Stakes of Utah website – to locate underground utility lines

Call 811 for service in locating underground utility lines – national hotline

Email: [email protected]

St. George News Reporter Ric Wayman contributed to this report.

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

1 Comment

  • ladybugavenger May 11, 2016 at 8:10 pm

    oops, it will all be fixed. Hey this is my first time paying attention to an 811# I only say paying attention because I don’t Joyce to have to research st George news printing 811# in a prior article. 😉 it’s good info

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.