Henderson gas blast evacuates 50 homes

Jace Radke

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

Fifty homes were evacuated in a Henderson neighborhood Wednesday afternoon after a more than 53-ton tractor smashed a gas line, sending dust and debris flying into the air.

The D9 Caterpillar tractor hit the 16-inch line as it was moving dirt in a wash off Arroyo Grande Boulevard between Windmill Lane and Santiago Avenue when it hit the pipe, Henderson Fire Department Battalion Chief Gene Belin said.

"I talked to the driver of the tractor and he said he was pretty surprised when he hit the line," Belin said.

The driver was not hurt as the severed line shot gas and dirt hundreds of feet in the air.

"It sounded like thunder," Eduardo Garcia said as he rode his bicycle in the neighborhood a few blocks north of the severed line. "The gas smell comes and goes with the wind."

The venting gas sounded like a jet engine as Southwest Gas technicians worked to cap the line.

The escaping gas forced about 50 houses to be evacuated in the neighborhood just north of where the line was hit, and Henderson Police were forced to close Arroyo Grande at Sunset Road, Santiago and Windmill.

The technicians had the line under control and the gas shut off about 90 minutes after the pipe was broken, Southwest spokesman Roger Buehrer said.

The gas company had not calculated how much gas was lost this morning, but Buehrer estimated it was in the thousands of cubic feet. The cost, also not yet calculated, will not be passed on to consumers, but likely will be charged to whoever is found to be responsible, he said.

The tractor was being used by an employee of M & M Construction, which is working on a flood control channel project in the wash.

"We did get a call before the company started work on this site," Buehrer said. "The pipe was marked, and the investigation is continuing as to what exactly happened."

Staff writer Ed Koch contributed to this report.