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EDISON: 100 people evacuated after workers hit gas line

Published in The Home News Tribune 3/23/00

By MICHELLE SAHN - STAFF WRITER

About 100 people were evacuated from an apartment complex and a day-care center for about an hour yesterday morning after a construction crew hit a gas line in Edison, police said.

Around 11:50 a.m., workers from Szalagyi Construction Co., based in Edison, were repairing sewer lines on Weston Forbes Court in the North Edison Gardens apartment complex when they ruptured a 4-inch gas line, Sgt. Matthew Freeman said.

Police and firefighters evacuated residents from three buildings in the complex and 12 children and staff members at a nearby day-care center, said Freeman. About 20 of those people went to the Minnie Veal Recreation Center, while others made their own arrangements until they were allowed back around 1 p.m., he said.

The construction company was in compliance with the one-call law, which requires crews to contact public utility companies before they do any digging. The utility companies then are required to mark the area.

Elizabethtown Gas workers and Edison's Office of Emergency Management also responded.

The incident is under investigation by the state Board of Public Utilities.

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