Portage la Prairie fence build gets fiery after gas line hit: Hydro

Manitoba Hydro is reminding Manitobans to call before they dig after a fence-building project went up in flames in Portage la Prairie last week.

In a string of posts on its Twitter page Friday, Hydro described the scene that brought firefighters and Hydro staff to a Portage home Oct. 21.

They say a man building a fence along his driveway unknowingly hit an underground gas line while pounding metal fence posts into the ground.

The man, unaware he’d sheared the gas line, began grinding the tops of the fence-post, sending sparks flying over the damaged pipe, Hydro said.

“Guess what happened next?” reads one of the posts in Hydro’s tweet thread, which includes video of the resulting fire.

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Hydro said the gas fire took an hour to extinguish, and eight nearby homes were left without power while the damaged line was repaired.

No injuries were reported.

Hydro said the man had not reached out to them before he began digging.

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The company says it’s seen a 47 per cent increase in people damaging gas lines this year over 2021 numbers, and a quarter of those hadn’t called Hydro before digging.

“Of those who did, many didn’t follow instructions for safe digging,” Hydro said in a tweet Friday.

“No one has been hurt – so far – in these almost daily gas line hits. Most gas line damages are preventable.”

Anyone planning to “disturb the ground in Manitoba” should call Hydro to make sure it’s safe at 1-800-940-3447 or reach out online.