HALIFAX – A large section of downtown was shut down for more than three hours Friday after a demolition crew punctured a natural gas line.
The incident happened just after 11 a.m. on the corner of South and Barrington Streets.
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Buildings on Morris and South Streets were evacuated as a precaution. Crews were working to crimp the line, install a permanent cap, at which point they would un-crimp the line.
According to Halifax Fire, about 100 people were evacuated from nearby apartment buildings.
Halifax Transit comfort buses were on scene for evacuees to wait in.
Hollis Street was blocked off at Morris Street, and Barrington Street was closed between Tobin and Bishop.
Crews were working to crimp the line, install a permanent cap, at which point they would un-crimp the line. That work was completed around 1:30 p.m. Streets remained closed as crews waited for the gas to clear.
Deputy Chief Roy Hollett said the weather was slowing down the evaporation of the gas.
“Depending on the weather conditions is how fast or how slow the natural gas will dissipate,” he said. “In this type of weather it will take a little longer. It’s fog — everything being pushed down.”
The all-clear was given at around 2:30 p.m.
By law, all contractors must call ahead and be aware of the location of natural gas lines before any work. Heritage Gas is conducting an investigation into whether that was the case here.
“That is certainly a major part of the investigation and we will do that over the next few days to sort out what information the contractor had and what they were aware of on site,” said Chris MacAulay, the Operations and CNG Director with Heritage Gas.
The results of that investigation will be reported to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.
With files from Rebecca Lau
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