Gas line hit; leak at SE Bend road project leads to closures

Construction in area allowed crews to access pipe quicker, official said

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There was a gas leak at a construction site in a southeast Bend neighborhood Thursday afternoon that led to a few road closures but no evacuations. Crews on hand said the construction actually made it easier to access the damaged transmission line.

The leak was first reported at 3:18 p.m. in the area of Murphy Road and Country Club Drive, according to Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki with Bend Fire & Rescue.

That area is part of the Murphy Corridor Project construction site, where crews have been working for the last few months.

Fire officials, Bend police and Cascade Natural Gas arrived on scene to learn a four-inch transmission line had been damaged by excavators.

Derlacki told NewsChannel 21 a line of that size is fairly large. According to CNG, it does not actually supply natural gas to anyone living in that area.

"It was transmitting out further, so they were able to keep all the gas operating in everyone's home in the area," Derlacki said.

Derlacki also said no one in the area needed to evacuate. He said police went to some neighbors and just told them to "defend from inside" by closing their doors and windows.

As for the gas leak, Derlacki said the construction work actually helped CNG gain access to the transmission line quicker than normal.

"So with the asphalt removed, that pipe was another, about a foot and a half down through gravel," Derlacki said. "By having that, it made it so they could use shovels, they could get down to it within a couple of minutes. Just expedites those processes. We've got to get that pipe exposed, then CNG can pinch it. The longer it takes to get to it, the longer it takes to pinch it."

CNG managed to pinch off both ends of the pipe within an hour after the initial call came in.

All roads that were not already closed off because of the construction reopened shortly after.