The threat of a gas pipeline explosion forces 4,000 people to evacuate to Bay Point



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A grass fire that threatened to cause an explosion in an underground underground chamber of the Chevron gas line forced 4,000 people to be evacuated Wednesday night at Bay Point, and crews continued to work all morning to broadcast the threat. .

The initial grass fire started around 18 hours. when a power line fell near a valve fitting on the gas line, officials said. The fire was extinguished by Contra Costa County firefighters, but first responders returned to the scene an hour later after the announcement that a transmission line would have triggered a fire in the area. Vault.


Residents of 1,400 homes between Bailey Road and Loftus Lane, south of the railway and north of Hanlon Way, are subject to mandatory evacuation.

The fire affects a 3/8 inch gas line that leads to a 12 inch main pipe, said Cary Wages, coordinator of the Chevron Project.


"We are going to purge the entire (natural gas) system or this segment of the pipeline," said Wages.

No injuries have been reported and there is no risk of explosion at the moment, officials said, adding that they hoped to be able to lift the warring order. evacuation late Thursday morning.

"We quickly understood that there was a high probability of danger. So we decided to escalate the incident, including defining a half-mile evacuation zone, "said Terence Carey, deputy fire chief of the fire department's fire department. County Contra Costa District.

The evacuees spent the night at Calvary Temple Church and Bay Point BART Station, but the Red Cross announced Thursday morning that evacuees from the BART station were being relocated to a new center at Los Medanos College.

Willow Cove Elementary School, which has been identified by officials of the unified school district of Pittsburg as being in the evacuation zone, has decided to close its doors on Thursday.

Contra Costa's Fire Protection District tweeted at 2:23 am that workers were purging the Bay Point gas line, causing a "loud and loud noise that was described as a jet engine sound." .

The Amtrak Capitol Corridor trains are being redirected, the rail service announced Thursday. Commuters who travel between Sacramento and Martinez can expect delays of up to 20 minutes.


Gwendolyn Wu is a writer of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @gwendolynawu


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