Residents are evacuated after a gas line ruptures
By Nathan R. Huff
A ruptured gas line on University Avenue forced the Santa Clara County Fire Department to evacuate residents on Bentley and Edelen avenues on Aug. 4.
A construction crew broke the line at approximately 10:30 a.m. while operating a backhoe. The county fire department was called to the scene at 10:46 a.m., and arrived to a loud noise and noxious smell. At that time, neighboring residents were asked to leave and the streets were closed.
PG&E was then called to the scene and immediately began working to close the line. A PG&E crewman was lowered into the trench on a rope to attempt to clamp the hole. As the repair neared completion, a liquid substance began spraying out of the four-inch gas pipe. The goopy substance penetrated the worker's safety suit, and samples were rushed off for testing.
"We always treat an emission like that--whether from a transformer or gas pipe--as a potential hazard," PG&E spokesperson Scott Blakey said. The tests came back negative, and Blakey said that while a small percentage of the substance may have been oil, the bulk of the liquid was condensation and hydrocarbons.
The crew then dug a hole uphill from the rupture and attached a clamping device to the pipe. County fire officials left the scene at 6:20 p.m., but PG&E workers stayed into the night, cleaning up residue from the street and neighboring yards.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
