CNG crews repair NW Bend natural gas line hit by contractor; leak prompted evacuations, alerts, power shutoff, road closures

(Update: Gas line leak capped; power being restored)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Contractors working on a northwest Bend water line project struck a natural gas line Monday morning, prompting the evacuation of two homes, closure of area streets, notification to nearby residents to shelter in place and a precautionary power shutoff for over 4 hours, until repairs were made.

Word came shortly before 7:30 a.m. of the four-inch-wide Cascade Natural Gas line being hit in the 1500 block of Northwest Saginaw Avenue, PulsePoint indicated.

As a result, Juniper Street was closed between Portland and Trenton avenues, as well as Saginaw Avenue from Quincy Avenue to its eastern dead end, Bend Fire & Rescue Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said.

Derlacki said in an update around 12:15 p.m. that the gas leak was repaired and power was being restored to the area. He added that CNG crews "will be on scene for several more hours while they fix the broken line."

Earlier, the fire official said, “The two closest homes have been evacuated and the rest have been asked to stay inside, with all doors and windows shut. With very little wind today, the gas is going up into the atmosphere and not toward the homes.”

CNG spokesman Mark Hanson confirmed the line was hit by a contractor working on a city project.

Hanson said the damage occurred where a service line connected to a transmission line, creating the leak. Only one natural gas customer was affected.

Derlacki said they had asked Pacific Power to shut off power to the immediate area (within a one-block radius) as a safety precaution, but the utility had to involve a somewhat larger area. The utility's outage map first indicated about 2,150 people were without power, later reduced by about half to 1,100.

Derlacki said the risk involved "static electricity discharge when gas blows past the lines and transformers. And if we had gas get into a building, we don’t want an appliance sparking either. We don’t have either right now, but out of precaution, we asked them to shut the area down. Unfortunately, they couldn’t narrow it down to the very small area we asked for."