Natural gas leak causes street closures Friday morning

Mandi Steele/FULTON SUN photo: Officials closed part of Bluff Street Friday when a natural gas line broke, causing a leak in the line that had to be repaired by the Gas Department.
Mandi Steele/FULTON SUN photo: Officials closed part of Bluff Street Friday when a natural gas line broke, causing a leak in the line that had to be repaired by the Gas Department.

Both the Fulton Fire and Gas Departments responded to a natural gas leak Friday morning, closing off the area around the broken gas line to pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

Officials closed off the section of Bluff Street between Fifth and Second and Addison Street between Second and Third until the gas line could be repaired.

Fire Chief Dean Buffington said the fire department was on hand to help isolate the area and keep people safe while the gas department worked to repair lines.

Dale Tate, gas supervisor, said the leak started at about 7:30 a.m. and the department had it contained within an hour. Tate said the break in the gas line was caused by a leak on a water line adjacent to it. He said the water spraying out and shooting rocks against the gas line caused the break. The Water Department shut off the water to the line, until the gas line was repaired. He said the water line broke due to a "corrosion leak."

Personnel from the Gas Department were at the scene monitoring the level of natural gas in the air to make sure it didn't reach "explosive limits," Tate said.

Buffington said Bluff Street was reopened to traffic at about 9:45 a.m. after the gas leak was stopped and the area was deemed safe.