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Gas Leak Closes Highway: PG&E Customers Without Service for Hours

Posted on: Thursday, 27 April 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Andre Briscoe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Apr. 27--A leak in a natural gas line near Monterey-Salinas Highway forced the closure of a portion of the highway Wednesday and deprived more than 100 residents of service for hours, a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesman said.

Someone passing Josselyn Canyon Road at Monterey-Salinas Highway smelled gas and called the Monterey Fire Department at 1:31 p.m., fire Capt. Roger Reed said.

When firefighters arrived, they closed Josselyn Canyon Road up to Via Isola and Monterey-Salinas Highway from Olmsted Road to a point past Twin Oaks Drive. Firefighters then called in PG&E personnel.

"They are the ones trained to handle leaks," said Reed.

The crew stopped the leak so that the road and highway could be opened by 3 p.m., PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said. The crew worked into late afternoon repairing the line.

The leak was caused by a malfunction of a pressure release valve in the regulator unit at the corner of Monterey-Salinas Highway and Josselyn Road, Reed said.

"It doesn't appear that someone dug in the line," said Smith. "It seems to be a failure of some sort."

The leak forced hourlong highway closure and the evacuation of cars parked nearby. Pastor Mark Bernhardt of Living Hope Church of the Nazarene said church members weren't allowed to park in the church's parking lot until the leak was sealed. The church is located directly across the street from the regulator and fire personnel followed proper emergency procedure, said Reed.

"That is typically a fire department call in these situations," Smith said. "Any time you have gas in the atmosphere, you want to make sure there are not ignition sources nearby," Smith said.

Service in the area was restored by 5 p.m.

Andre Briscoe can be reached at 646-4436 or abriscoe@montereyherald.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

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Source: The Monterey County Herald (Monterey, Calif.)

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