Gas leak in Vancouver’s Dunbar neighbourhood second within months: business owners
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Posted September 20, 2023 12:13 am.
Last Updated September 20, 2023 10:59 am.
Multiple buildings were evacuated on Tuesday morning because of a gas leak in Vancouver’s Dunbar neighbourhood, leaving many local businesses struggling to serve their customers for the second time this month.
Over 60 businesses and homes were disconnected from gas service after the leak, which Vancouver Fire Rescue Services says happened because a contractor cut a gas line — leading to multiple building evacuations and the block temporarily closing to traffic.
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The streets opened up later in the day, but for hours the shops struggled to serve people without gas — leaving owners unsure of when it would be reconnected.
Sarah Li at Moon Sushi couldn’t use her deep fryer or gas range, and could only serve specific menu items.
“Lost business … no gas for the second time this month, that’s the second time it’s affecting our business,” she said.
In a statement to CityNews, FortisBC spokesperson Nicolas Insley said crews were working as quickly as possible to restore natural gas service to impacted customers because of system damage “caused by an external party working in the area.”
FortisBC says the last damage to a gas line happened in that area on Aug. 15.
Insley didn’t provide a timeline for when service would be restored.
Babby Sanghera runs two dry cleaning shops — Busy Bee Cleaners and Money’s Drycleaning — and says her employees couldn’t do any work at her Dunbar store.
“All gas operated. The boiler turns on with the gas. The boiler is on, all the units on, pressing, cleaning, everything, all steam,” she said. “When they’ve been working on this unit for long time, they should know all about the lines, where the lines go.”
“There’s no notice, nothing, we had to call Terasen [gas],” Sanghera added.
“I could hear that, so loud. The gas was leaking, so they told me, you cannot go inside.”
Fortis says, unfortunately, “third parties” can unintentionally cause damage to gas lines. “When this happens, we sometimes need to shut off gas to impacted areas. These events are not planned and our crews work to respond to them quickly with safety top of mind, so we do not have the ability to provide impacted homes or businesses with notice.”
Crew members left door tags for residents and store owners who weren’t home when they arrived, and anyone with a tag is asked to call Fortis BC’s emergency line at 1-877-711-8811 to make arrangements to restore service.
With files from Charlie Carey