Gas leak diverts traffic on Uinta

Around noon last Thursday, traffic on Uinta Drive was diverted and two businesses were evacuated after a contractor hit a gas line.

According to Darren Shepherd, Dominion Energy Wyoming spokesman, a contractor completing work near two businesses hit a one-way feed, 2-inch plastic gas line.

Those two businesses were Edward Jones and Dimensions Beauty Salon.

"Gas is lighter than air and so it rises and dissipates," Shepherd said.

Unfortunately, in this case the wind was blowing the gas right across a busy street.

Mike Nomis, Green River Fire Department chief, said the incident happened around noon and the fire department responded to help the Green River Police Department block traffic on Uinta Drive to keep vehicles away from the gas leak.

The firefighters biggest concern was the vehicles traveling by on Uinta Drive. Those cars could have sucked up the gas into their intake, which could catch a vehicle on fire.

"That's why we closed the road down, so we wouldn't have traffic going through there," Nomis said. "It blew gas close to an hour."

Another issue the firefighters had to address was evacuating employees from Edward Jones and Dimensions Beauty Salon. He said those two businesses were filling with gas. Once the businesses were evacuated, fans were brought in to air them out before employees were allowed to return.

Bob Ross, Edward Jones financial advisor, said a contractor was working on fixing the drainage problem in front of the building when they hit the line. Ross said he and his employees were evacuated until about 3:30 p.m.

When Dominion Energy employees arrived on scene, they were able to dig down to get to the damaged line to repair it.

Nomis said the fire department left the scene around 2:30 p.m.

Shepherd said Dominion Energy employees remained at the scene of the break until about 4 p.m.

Both Shepherd and Nomis agreed that this situation could have been avoided if a simple telephone call would have been made.

"Call 811 before (you) dig," Shepherd said.

He said once that number is called the utility companies will come out for free and mark all of the utility lines near the digging area. This way, a contractor will know where it's safe to dig,

"Make sure you find out where the lines are before you dig," Nomis said.

As to the identity of the contractor, Shepherd said he doesn't have the name of the contractor and even if he did they may not release because they are not done determining the details of the gas leak.

Dominion Energy will call 811 to see if a request for the project was made and if one was made when did the call come in. Usually, a request is good for two weeks after the call was made and the lines have been marked.

Shepherd said they are still trying to determine how much everything will cost, including loss of gas, damage to the line and hours needed to fix the damage.

If it turns out the contractor was at fault, Dominion Energy will tally up how much it costs to fix everything and send the contractor the bill.

Shepherd also said the local fire department or police department would be able to release the contractor's name.

Neither Nomis or Ross wanted to name the local contractor working on the project. Green River Police Department Det. and Public Relations Officer Luke Benson, said he didn't know the name of the contractor. Mark Westenskow, Director of Public Works, was also unaware of the contractor at the scene.