Gas leak shuts city block

By Yvette Wakelin
Hard questions will be asked of a contracting company after it ripped through Tauranga's gas main, paralysing part of the central city.
Firefighters from Tauranga and Mount Maunganui were called to the intersection of Spring and Durham Streets at 10.30am yesterday after a directional drill operated by Bayonne Construction Ltd tore through the line.
The workers were boring new power cable ducts as part of a $40 million plan to fix Tauranga's electricity supply when the accident occurred. It was the eighth time gas lines have been broken in the city this year.
Council buildings, cafes, banks and retail stores were evacuated for four hours as emergency crews worked frantically to clear the area inside The Strand, Hamilton, Durham and Spring Streets.
Gas gushed from the pipe for 70 minutes before a Natural Gas Corporation engineer was able to stop it escaping.
Origen Technology Limited customer services co-ordinator Rachael Terry, based just metres from the construction site, said she smelled the gas soon after the line was severed at 10.20am.
"The gas was pouring into the building, it absolutely stunk and the doors were shut."
Realising what had happened Ms Terry exited the building to hear the gas roaring. She said fire crews arrived shortly afterwards.
Ironically just metres from the leak - at Wharf St's Harbour City Motel - a group of 30 were part-way through a seminar about how to cope in emergency situations.
Educational Services Manager Tere Ryan said the group had just gone over fire, gas and bomb-scare evacuations when they were alerted to the leak.
"A woman in the group smelt the change in the air and knew something was wrong."
Just around the corner dozens of students and tutors from Te Wananga O Aotearoa gathered on the footpath.
Tutor Grant Ngati said they had voluntarily evacuated after a student saw the gas coming from the line.
Natural Gas Corporation manager of external relations Keith FitzPatrick said questions would be asked about how contractors were able to puncture the line - the eighth such incident to occur this year. "Our immediate concern was to stop the leak and get the gas line repaired.
" We will now carry out a full investigation into how this happened."However, Mr FitzPatrick said until the investigation, which was expected to take 48 hours, was complete he could not say whether the local company would be penalised. Bayonne Construction was not available for comment.
Tauranga City Council temporary traffic management co-ordinator Bruce Galloway said the construction company workers were drilling and managed to hit a gas main and the line was lower than indicated on the plans.
The project is part of a three-year, $40 million plan to fix Tauranga's electricity supply.
Tauranga Fire Senior Station Officer Mark Keller said the leak was attended by four fire engines and three crews.
"We pretty much work hand-in-hand with the experts from Natural Gas.
"They shut off the leak and we provide the safety and evacuate buildings."
Natural gas is lighter than air - it tends to blow into buildings and therefore can be difficult to get rid of.
Because of this, and the fact a small spark could cause an explosion, it was decided to keep the area closed until about 2.10pm when the gas diminished.
Tauranga Mainstreet manager Howard Baker said while the emergency had affected inner-city businesses, he was unable to estimate how much money was lost.
"I can't put a dollar figure on it. It's pretty hard to say exactly how much was lost.
"You can never really guess."
While businesses within the cordon lost out, Mr Baker said cafes and restaurants on the waterfront were booming.
"Those on The Strand had rip-roaring trade - as tends to happen during disasters like this,"