Natural gas transmission line hit by crews on NW Bend sewer, gas line project; leak sealed, Bend FD clears scene

(Update: Gas leak stopped, repairs continue)

No homes close by, but area residents urged to stay inside, keep doors and windows shut

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A large, four-inch natural gas transmission line was hit by contractors working on a northwest Bend sewer and gas line project Thursday morning, bringing fire crews to the scene and closing some roads, including the roundabout at Mt. Washington Drive and Shevlin Park Road.

Drivers were urged to avoid the area until the leak was stopped in the early afternoon, though repair work was continuing.

The commercial gas line was reported struck around 9:45 a.m. in the 2500 block of Northwest Campus Village Way in the area of a natural gas line extension in tandem with the sewer line, part of the city’s Awbrey Butte Waterline project.

Cascade Natural Gas spokesman Mark Hanson said a third-party contractor struck a four-inch PE (polyethylene) main with an excavator and a crew was on site making repairs. 

Contractors are extending a natural gas line in the same trench as the sewer line work on Shevlin Park Road, Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said.

Eastbound Shevlin Park Road had been open from Mt. Washington Drive to the NorthWest Crossing roundabout, while the westbound lane was closed for the sewer and gas line work going on in the roadway, Derlacki said. The gas leak prompted closure of the eastbound route as well.

There are no nearby homes in the area, between the LDS Church and the Cascade Culinary Institute. Crews fanned out to inform residents and monitor gas readings, of which none had been detected amid a light breeze helping the gas to dissipate, Derlacki said. But the odor was detectable.

"We suggest anyone living in the area to keep all their doors and windows shut as a precaution and keep the smell out," Derlacki said in a mid-morning news release. "No evacuations or orders to shelter in place have been issued."

“This is a big transmission line that feeds all the little lines that go off to the neighborhoods,” the fire official told NewsChannel 21.

Precautionary moves by Bend Fire included staging engines and putting out hose lines “in case something rapidly changes,” Derlacki said.

Cascade Natural Gas crews were on scene by 10:30 a.m. and it was estimated it would take 1-2 hours to seal the gas line and repair the leak.