Firefighters respond to gas leak in Westhampton Beach

Recommend

Comment

Email this article

Print this article

Get news alerts

RSS Feeds

Share Digg Mixx Linked In Facebook Twitter Delicious

Volunteers with the Westhampton Beach Fire Department respond to what appears to be a gas leak on Old Riverhead Road on Tuesday morning.
Photos by Vera Chinese

see all images

A natural gas line was ruptured during remediation work at Francis S. Gabreski Airport, near the Bob Steven’s Appliance store on Old Riverhead Road, in Westhampton Beach on Tuesday morning prompting the evacuation of the immediate area.

No injuries were reported.

Workers for Miller Environmental Group, which was performing the environmental remediation, accidentally hit the line leading to the appliance store at around 9:30 a.m., according to airport manager Anthony Ceglio.

Mr. Ceglio said that DigNet, a nonprofit organization that acts as a communications link between utility companies and individuals planning any digging activity, did not provide workers with the location of the gas line beforehand.

Shortly after the break, the gas was shut off and the line has since been repaired.

Westhampton Beach firefighters sprayed water on the fumes and evacuated the area. Acting Fire Chief Al Tudisco said that volunteers were on the scene for about 40 minutes and no one was injured.

“We made sure the building was evacuated and made sure the gas was blowing away from the building,” he said

National Grid trucks were parked outside the store at around 10:30 a.m. A bulldozer was also parked outside the appliance store where construction crews had dug several large holes next to the building, and the surrounding area smelled of natural gas.

Southampton Town Police and the 106th Rescue Wing New York Air National Guard Fire Department also responded to the scene.

This is the second time a construction crew has hit a gas line in the village in the past several months.

On September 28, a Suffolk County Water Authority crew working near the new library in Westhampton Beach accidentally struck a gas main and fumes of natural gas spewed from a man-made hole in Library Avenue until firefighters began spraying water on it.