MONCTON – The Moncton Fire Department is urging residents to keep their natural gas meters and lines cleared under the weight of the melting snow.
Eric Arsenault, the department’s fire chief, said the warming temperatures will cause the snow to solidify.
“It’s going to become heavier and putting a greater strain on those gas meters,” he said.
He said firefighters have responded to more than five times as many calls related to natural gas leaks this winter compared to last winter.
“When we compare the first three months of 2014, we responded to seven natural gas or gas-related emergencies,” he said. “So far this year for the same period it’s 37, so quite a dramatic increase.”
The leaks have caused at least one house fire and forced residents out of their apartments.
Arsenault said the weight of the snow has been forcing the lines to break.
“The weight of the snow is probably one of the main contributing factors we’ve had,” he said, noting that people who clear snow from their meters should use a plastic shovel and brush in order to avoid damaging the equipment.
For many residents in the Moncton area, however, just getting to their meters has been a challenge.
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Riverview resident Al Daly said he needs to use snowshoes to walk around the side of his home.
“It’s the only option I have,” he said. “If I didn’t have that, I don’t know how I would get out there.”
Despite the extra work, he said cleaning the snow from his meter has been necessary this winter.
“If you have snow over it and then it freezes and starts to come down…it freezes and brings it down with it,” he said.
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