The smell of gas filled the air at the intersection of Centre Avenue and Main Street in Airdrie when a road construction crew doing water line and sanitary sewer upgrades on Centre Avenue struck a gas line yesterday afternoon (August 22).

The Airdrie Fire Department along with Atco Gas were called to the scene.  Deputy Fire Chief Garth Rabel explained what happened.

"At around 3:50 this afternoon, at Main Street and Centre Avenue where construction work is going on with replacement of water services, a third party contractor inadvertently struck a small supply gas line and caused it to breach and now we have a gas release event in that area."

Rabel says the area, which was already partially cordoned off due to the construction, was completely cordoned off to all pedestrians and vehicles.  It will remain locked down until Atco is able to resolve the situation.

Rabel says around 28 customers will be without gas for two to three hours while repairs are done.  Atco and fire personnel went door to door to those customers advising them of the gas shutoff.

Rabel says they'll make sure everything is safe before the road construction is allowed to proceed.  "We'll be reviewing this in the morning to make absolutely certain that we're not going to see any other issues and we're confident that work will begin on that Centre Avenue water service site again tomorrow."

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