Busted gas line clears homes

Marisa O’Neil

Work crews accidentally ruptured a gas line Friday morning, forcing

firefighters to evacuate about 50 people from oceanfront homes for

about four hours and closing Seashore Drive for most of the day.

A backhoe digging holes to put utilities lines underground on

Seashore Drive near 57th Street ruptured a 4-inch steel gas main just

after 8 a.m., sending natural gas shooting into the air, Newport

Beach Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said. Workers

called the Gas Company of Southern California and the Fire Department

and immediately began evacuating nearby residents, Schulz said.

Resident Mike Scott, whose home sits right next to the rupture,

was taking a shower when he caught the odor of the gas leak. A

firefighter ran up his back stairs to evacuate him.

“I could hear this ‘clunk-clunk-clunk’ as he came up the stairs,”

Scott said. “He said, ‘Get out!’ but I had soap on me and shampoo in

my hair. I said, ‘How much time I got?’ He said, ‘None.’”

Scott quickly got dressed and beat a hasty retreat out of his

home. He couldn’t take his car because the rupture was right behind

his house, he said.

“I heard this hissing sound and asked what it was,” Scott said.

“He said, ‘That’s why you’re leaving.’”

The strong odor of natural gas leaking was still apparent in the

area more than an hour after the break.

Firefighters stayed on hand to make sure the gas did not ignite,

Schulz said. Police closed off West Newport Park and Seashore Drive

between Pacific Coast Highway and 56th Street until well after 6 p.m.

while crews made repairs.

Officials from the Gas Company of Southern California made repairs

on the line and were able to stop the leak just after noon, company

spokeswoman Denise King said. Residents were allowed to return to

their homes at that time, she said.

Norm Hollingsworth, safety supervisor for the subcontractor Herman

Weissker Co, couldn’t explain how the rupture happened but said they

acted quickly when it happened.

“Our workers responded responsibly after what was an unfortunate

accident,” Hollingsworth said.

The evacuation inconvenienced residents, but it was worth the

trouble to keep the neighborhood safe, Scott said.

“If that thing goes ‘boom,’ that’s about $45 million,” he said,

pointing at the block of multimillion-dollar, ocean front homes.