People were evacuated from Fredericton’s downtown core on Sunday after construction crews struck a natural gas line.
Fire crews were called to the area of Carleton and King streets at 7:20 p.m.
Acting Platoon Chief Dwayne Killingbeck told Global News a contractor struck a two-inch natural gas main line, causing a leak.
Killingbeck says the gas has been shut off at the location and they are presently calling in locates. He says they are now in “repair mode.”
Witness Jefferson Veno and his friend were heading out for food at the time the line was struck.
“We heard what sounded like a waterfall. It went like ‘pssssssst’ and then we smelled this weird smell – It actually smelled like a rotten egg. And we smelled that and then we just thought ‘we gotta get out of here,'” Veno said.
King Street Ale House shift supervisor Nicki Spidell told Global News she heard sirens and went outside to see what was happening. Spidell said she was told they stopped letting traffic through the area.
“I asked if there was any danger and they said we should be fine,” Spidell said.
“They just said no one should go out for a cigarette break,” Spidell said.
Spidell says the road closure affected business because customers could not access the location.
Crews from Enbridge were also on site working on repairing the line
More to come.
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