Mayor talks about expensive gas line issue after break

Image
Body

About two blocks on the north side of Laurel Avenue between 8th and 9th streets was evacuated after a gas line ruptured about 9:15 a.m. Thursday.
There were no injuries reported in the incident.
Police and fire department vehicles were parked to block the area and people were being notified door-to-door about the situation.
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot said a contract crew was repairing a washout in the alley at West Vine. As the crew was recovering the area the cast iron pipe broke.
Gas spewed from the line until the contractor repaired it.
Fontenot said the city replaced a mile of old cast iron gas pipe at a cost of about $100,000 last year.
The replacement project is not over because the city has about 15 miles of the cast iron pipe.
Eunice Fire Department Capt. Brian Miller said the situation was not dangerous, but precautions were taken. A day center near the leak was evacuated as well as people living near the site.
Firefighters cleared the scene at about 11:45 a.m. Miller said.