A contractor working on Boulder’s water system struck a natural gas line behind the senior center just off Main Street early Thursday, prompting the evacuation of nearby buildings until the line had been repaired a few hours later.
Following the contractor’s 911 call at 11:19 a.m., Boulder-Bull Mountain Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Hecht arrived at 11:30 a.m. and found a six-by-eight-foot hole in the ground behind the senior center. “We did have gas spewing out of the pipe, natural gas,” he said.
Hecht and his team evacuated four buildings in the area – the senior center, The Hair Depot, Montana Mountain Patches and a nearby residence. About 12 people were evacuated, according to Doug Dodge, Jefferson County fire warden and disaster and emergency services coordinator.
Hecht said the evacuation was necessary because natural gas that collects in an enclosed space can ignite from something as simple as a light switch or a furnace. “It collects in an area, and then you have that ignition probability,” he said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and an ambulance also responded. Third Street between Main Street and South Washington was closed for about an hour. A portion of an alley near the scene was also blocked.
“We just are conservative and make sure that folks are safe,” Dodge said.
NorthWestern Energy arrived around noon and had repaired the line by mid-afternoon. Fire department personnel wearing air packs assisted NWE in clamping the line to stop the flow of gas, allowing evacuees to return by 1 p.m. NWE said the gas line had been struck and damaged by the contractor’s machinery. No injuries were reported.
Dodge said the line struck was a feeder line, one that branches off the main supply line, and not the main line itself. According to City Administrator Brian Bullock, the line served the See N’ Save thrift store.
Mayor Rusty Guilio said the contractor from Karnath Contracting in Cardwell was working on Phase 1 of the city’s water system improvement project, at Well 2 adjacent to the senior center.
The city is installing a chlorine analyzer at the wellhouse and regulations require that water passing through a chlorine analyzer drain to a sewer system. To meet that requirement, the contractor was installing a water line from the wellhouse to connect to the main sewer line, which required digging, installing piping and backfilling.
“All those gas lines, they have to be marked when they’re digging,” Guilio said. “This shouldn’t happen, but sometimes it does.”
Work on connecting the sewer system to the wellhouse will continue as planned, according to Bullock.
