Official: Contractor who ruptured gas line was ‘lucky guy’

Official: Contractor who ruptured gas line was ‘lucky guy’

Jean Cole | The News Courier

Few people know the danger posed by Thursday’s natural gas leak south of Athens.

Few know the city’s gas-leak training facility helped local firefighters know what to do and how to do it, an official said.

About 9:34 a.m., a contractor digging for the Browns Ferry Mercantile project knocked a 2-inch hole in one of the two high-pressure natural gas lines serving the city, an official said. The accident occurred in a field on the southeast quadrant of the intersection of U.S. 31 and Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road, roughly behind Wingzilla.

The ensuing gas leak — which was shut down by 11:45 a.m. — prompted emergency workers to evacuate homes in the area of Pitts Boulevard and U.S. 31…(Read the full story)