Gas Line

A gas line ruptured yesterday outside the Elkridge Corner shopping center near the U.S. 1 intersection with Montgomery Road, leading to an evacuation of shop owners and minor traffic delays, police said.About 50 people were evacuated about 8 a.m. from the shops in the 7200 block of Montgomery Road, many of which were not open at the time of the break, police said.The block was closed off for about 45 minutes while crews worked to shut off the pipeline, a police spokesman said, .The line was broken when a backhoe being used for construction work along the road hit it, said Peggy Mulloy, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.Gas service was restored by 11:30 a.m. to the 20 stores that lost service.

A high-pressure natural gas line severed by a construction crew's back hoe forced police and fire officials to seal off the tiny hamlet of Dublin in northern Harford County yesterday afternoon.Police acted quickly to seal off all roads leading to Dublin at Routes 136 and 440 about 3 p.m.Members of the Darlington Volunteer Fire Company set up a command post at their Dublin station, about 20 feet north of the leak and tried to plug the leak in the 1-inch line.About 15 people from two nearby houses and from the Dublin Market located across Route 136 and just south of the leak were evacuated to a safe distance until Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews arrived to make repairs, said Melinda Hummel, a BG&E spokeswoman.

Traffic in and around Westminster was snarled for about two hours yesterday after a contractor struck a natural gas line on Malcolm Drive near Route 140 just before afternoon rush hour, authorities said. The gas line was struck in a construction zone along Malcolm Drive (Route 97) near Crossroads Shopping Center about 3:15 p.m., Westminster police said. Authorities evacuated businesses and shopping centers while utility crews worked to repair the broken line, police said. Eastbound motorists on Route 140 were turned around at Gorsuch Road or diverted through town to Main Street.

A Comcast Cable utility worker suffered severe burns on his arms and hands yesterday after striking an underground natural gas line in Elkridge, according to the State Fire Marshal.Jack Barber was digging to repair a cable line in the 6000 block of Augustine Ave. about 12: 30 p.m. when he hit the gas pipeline, causing flames to erupt.The fire marshal said he suffered second- and third-degree burns, but no information was available about where he was taken for treatment.A Ford service van was destroyed by the fire.

Traffic was diverted for about an hour yesterday on Little Patuxent Parkway, just outside of The Mall in Columbia, while Baltimore Gas and Electric workers sealed two ruptures in a gas line. About 3 p.m., a construction crew hit a natural gas line that ruptured but did not catch fire, according to Howard County Fire and Rescue Services. Soon after, a secondary rupture occurred down the line, said Battalion Chief M. Sean Kelly. A construction worker smelled gas; a short time later, a gas buildup underneath the parkway caused the asphalt to swell, raising a mound and leading police to close southbound Little Patuxent Parkway, said Craig Herwig, supervisor of gas maintenance and repair for BGE. "Somebody tears something up, we fix it," said Herwig, who said BGE was able to shut off the gas flow from the opposite side of the street about 45 minutes after the leak was discovered.

Emergency crews evacuated customers and employees of two restaurants and a bank in front of the Roberts Field Shopping Center in Hampstead when a broken two-inch natural gas line spewed fumes about 12:20 p.m. yesterday. No one was injured.Firefighters were in the process of evacuating the shopping center stores when the gas was shut off by Baltimore Gas and Electric workers.Police said a tractor-trailer was northbound on Route 30 and turned into a service road when it climbed the curb and knocked over a six-inch diameter steel pole embedded in a three-foot deep concrete block.

About two dozen employees were briefly evacuated yesterday afternoon at the Springfield Hospital Center property near Sykesville after a contractor struck a gas line to a barn under construction, according to Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Carroll County fire officials. A 1 1/4 -inch service line to the unoccupied building was struck about 1:20 p.m. by one of the contractors working at the site, which was not part of the hospital complex, said Linda Foy, a spokeswoman for BGE. The workers left the area while a BGE crew secured the leak and shut off the line.

A plumbing crew digging a trench struck a feeder gas line on Glasgow Court in Eldersburg yesterday morning, starting a fire outside the line and causing firefighters to evacuate 10 homes, officials said. The accident occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. spokeswoman Brenda Pettigrew said gas to the block was turned off by 11:55 a.m. "A spark from the trench winch ignited the gas vapors, causing the fire," said Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department Chief Bobby Ray Chesney.

A construction crew demolishing a vacant house on Mountain Road broke a natural gas line yesterday morning, forcing authorities to close a portion of the road for more than an hour. The broken line was next to the Jacobsville fire station, where firefighters remained on standby in case their help was needed while Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. workers made repairs. Construction workers were tearing down the house to clear the site for a new medical office complex when they accidentally hit the gas line, said Lt. Robert Rose, a fire department spokesman.

An Essex carpenter has been arrested and charged with multiple traffic offenses after he lost control of his wife's sport utility vehicle yesterday afternoon and crashed into an Essex apartment building, severing a natural gas line that forced the evacuation of between 60 and 90 people, authorities said. There were no injuries. The driver, Paul Long, 39, of the 3400 block of McShane Way, was being held last night. He crashed into a taxicab occupied by two passengers and the driver near the 1400 block of Hadwick Drive about 2 p.m., lost control of his wife's 2003 Chevrolet TrailBlazer, went over a curb and crashed into a building at the Kings Mill Apartments, said Officer Chris Markel of the Baltimore County police Essex Precinct.