Gas Line Break in Vegreville Halts Traffic

Emily Mailhot Reporter

Vegreville News Advertiser

Around 75-100 customers of Atco customers were cut off from natural gas services after a gas line was hit during excavation for an Atco capital works project on May 6th, in Vegreville.

While these sorts of gas leaks are a fairly regular call for Atco, they can also cause serious explosion hazards, and an emergency alert was issued for the area. The Vegreville Fire Department was also on-scene to divert traffic from the streets around the incident for a 1-block radius to help mitigate the hazard and remained there for approximately three hours.

The damage done to the area was minimal, as the pipe was small and the

response was fast enough to shut off the gas line and conduct some cleanup. The site was open again to traffic when the emergency alert was lifted before commuters took to the streets on Tuesday, May 7th, and the road construction continued that day as well. All natural gas services have been restored to Atco customers.

Chief Phil Rowe of the Vegreville Fire Department said that the main concern emergency personnel were faced with during their response to the emergency was the impatience of some drivers on the road.

“There are some people who will try to drive through wherever they think they see space, regardless of where traffic

is being directed,” Chief Rowe explained. “This creates not only a hazard for the firefighters standing in the roadway to redirect them but everyone on the scene – including themselves – if they try to drive through. All drivers should try to remember that if they see emergency services blocking off the roadway, it’s because there is a danger on the other side.”

As always, people are reminded to respect the space of road workers and emergency personnel to ensure the safety of everyone involved.