February 15, 2012

Residents return after gas line strike

Residents of three Coquitlam, British Columbia, apartments spent almost eight hours out of their homes after an excavator ripped through a gas line in that Vancouver suburb.

The Tuesday afternoon incident (Feb. 7)closed one major road and forced the evacuation of the apartments and businesses covering several city blocks along the Coquitlam-Burnaby boundary. No one was hurt and Fortis B.C. was able to shut off the gas and repair the ruptured pipeline shortly after midnight.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said the private contractor involved in the incident should have reviewed utility maps before digging.

He said the city must now determine if the maps were wrong or if some other misunderstanding caused the problem.

At the height of the evacuation, buses were brought in to shelter evacuated residents and an information centre was set up at a nearby community centre to keep evacuees informed.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2012

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