Residents evacuated

A natural gas leak on Monday morning forced firefighters to temporarily evacuate three McKibbon Street homes.

A homeowner digging a trench near the gas meter on his house accidentally nicked the gas line. Firefighters weren’t taking any chances, said acting captain Craig Venables of the Mapleward fire hall.

“We showed up on scene and we evacuated all three houses – the ones on either side and the gentleman’s home – closed the windows to make sure no gas got in and waited for the gas company to show up and shut off the gas,” Venables said.

“Once they deemed everything was clear on all sides we let the residents back in the building and it’s business as usual.”

Venables said the danger posed by a gas leak is something igniting it. With the sulfuric smell of the leaking gas could be detected throughout the quiet north-end neighbourhood, an explosion could have been catastrophic.

“If the gas did get into a residence it could be ignited from any kind of pilot light, from your water tank or your furnace,” Venables said.

“The gentleman next door had a propane-fired gas pool heater. If the gas did migrate over there it could start a fire and then an explosion and then we’d have major trouble.”

This was not a classic case of someone digging without checking with utility companies first, Venables added.

“The gentleman did call (Union Gas) before he dug. He had the line marked in his backyard. It was just accidental contact, he was maybe just digging too close to the line.”