Gas leak prompts evacuations, emergency repair in South Surrey

Surrey RCMP said in a news release that they had shut down traffic at the intersection of 19 Avenue and 160 Street. (CTV)

Vancouver — Fortis BC says its crews conducted an emergency repair on a damaged natural gas line in a South Surrey neighbourhood Wednesday after a gas leak that forced the evacuation of several homes.

Emergency crews were called to the 1800 block of 160 Street shortly before 11:45 a.m. to respond to the incident, which Fortis says was caused by a third-party company doing work in the area.

Surrey RCMP said in a news release that they had shut down traffic at the intersection of 19 Avenue and 160 Street. The road was closed for several hours, but reopened before 4 p.m., police said.

Police, firefighters and Fortis crews all responded to deal with the leak, which was at a mobile home park in the area, according to police at the scene. Between 15 and 20 homes in the park were evacuated.

Around 6 p.m., Fortis said it expected repairs to the damaged gas line to be completed within an hour.

Fortis reminds contractors and members of the public to use BC 1 Call to check the locations of natural gas lines before digging.