A gas leak caused by an excavator accidently hitting a six-inch natural gas line in the 200 block of East Lake Road forced the evacuation of about 400 people from four neighbouring businesses on March 13, according to Airdrie Fire Department (AFD) Deputy Fire Chief Garth Rabel.
“Once the crews got everything under control, (the employees) were out for about 30 minutes or so,” Rabel said. “(The incident) was in the area where the student buses are running out of, so we had to make sure if there was going to be a long disruption they had a plan in place to make sure the buses were available.”
According to Rabel, crews from ATCO Gas were already on scene when firefighters arrived at 1:27 p.m. and were able to quickly turn off the gas at its source and get the situation under control.
Firefighters established a water supply and waited until the leak was capped and the scene declared safe, according to Rabel.
Rabel said the incident is a good reminder for businesses and employees.
“If you’re at work and you feel like something’s not quite right, than by all means call the 911 system and get the professionals there with the tools, experience and knowledge to troubleshoot it for you.”
In these kinds of situations, Rabel said firefighters will work with the utility company to establish an evacuation plan, if required, and provide support in whatever manner is deemed necessary.
“Evacuating isn’t always necessary,” Rabel said. “When dealing with seniors and things like that, what’s the advantage of pulling everyone out if we’re just going to turn around and put them back in. We leave that up to our command team to make those intelligent decisions based on the intelligence they get through their investigation and their mitigation strategies.”
There were no injuries to any of the firefighters, the crew from ATCO Gas or to any of the employees at the neighbouring businesses, according to Rabel.
Grass Fire Season
With the warmer weather Airdrie has experienced in March, Rabel said the AFD is preparing for grass fire season.
“Our wild land trucks are already up and running,” he said. “We have a new wild land truck coming in April to replace one of our older units. The equipment has been put on our units and our teams are prepared with their gear. We’re hoping it won’t be a busy wild land season.”
Rabel said there are some common sense guidelines residents can keep in mind to lower the risk of grass fires: keep smoking materials inside your vehicle, make sure your kids aren’t playing with matches outside, and make sure backyard fires are managed and maintained properly.
