Homes evacuated, no one hurt in the accident

A9

By Yvon Gauvin
Times & Transcript staff

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A few people living near Westminster Avenue and Windsor Street, Riverview, were evacuated from their homes yesterday afternoon after an underground natural gas distribution pipe was ruptured by a road construction crew working near the intersection.

Riverview firefighters opted to evacuate homes in close proximity to the rupture as a precaution, said Riverview Fire Captain Gilles Allard.

The two-inch pipe was about three feet in the ground and was broken by heavy equipment installing a new catch basin along Westminster for the town, he said. The incident happened at about 3:30 p.m. and it took several minutes before a gas pipeline repair crew could arrive on the scene to stop the gas flow. The gas is lighter than air and evaporated harmlessly in the air, he said. No one was hurt and there was no fire.

The contractor installing sewer lines and catch basin along Westminster had checked the location of the pipeline before beginning work, he said. The work crew immediately shut off all vehicles and contacted Enbridge Gas New Brunswick. NB Power, along with Aliant and Rogers, were also alerted.

There are natural gas pipelines throughout Metro Moncton. Anyone planning to dig up the ground is well advised to check first with Enbridge, said Allard. Yesterday's rupture may well have been the first such incident this year in Riverview, he added.