Victoria homes evacuated after damaged gas line produces 'explosive-level' readings
Victoria homes evacuated after damaged gas line produces 'explosive-level' readings
FortisBC says it received a report of a damaged gas line around 11:30 a.m. Jan. 23, 2023. (CTV News)
Several Victoria residents were removed from their homes on Monday morning after a damaged gas line prompted an evacuation north of the Fernwood neighbourhood.
FortisBC says crews were called to the 2500-block of Avebury Avenue around 11:30 a.m. for reports of a damaged gas line.
Victoria Fire acting battalion Chief Todd Harris says he believes plumbers in the area were digging at a home when a gas main was hit and damaged.
"The gas leaking filled two or three houses down the end of the block, and unfortunately we had a very explosive-level reading on our gas meters," he said.
Several blocks in the area were closed to traffic for more than two hours as crews assessed the situation.
Firefighters, police and workers with BC Hydro and FortisBC were at the site.
FortisBC recommended that power be shut down in the neighbourhood, leading to a blackout for about 1,800 BC Hydro customers in the area.
Power was restored to surrounding houses and nearby blocks reopened about two hours later, though houses directly beside the area were still in the dark Monday afternoon.
Around 1:45 p.m., FortisBC said crews were working on repairs to the gas line, and that about 45 service outages occurred because of the damage.
Once repairs are finished, FortisBC will go to each affected house and turn the gas back on.
Harris says the next steps are to ensure that the gas has dissipated from each affected house and that they have all been ventilated.
Some pets were inside the affected homes but appear unharmed, he said.
Harris encourages anyone who smells a gas leak, which resembles the smell of rotten eggs, to call their local fire department and FortisBC immediately.
"Today was a perfect example, somebody called right away," he said.
He's also grateful for the patience of community members while the electricity was cut to make repairs.
"The safety of the few definitely was our main concern and we wanted to protect this area and do everything we could so there wasn't an explosion," he said.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
The federal budget proposes an across-the-board three per cent spending cut for all departments and agencies, a belt-tightening move after years of massive growth in the federal public service.
The increase in excise duties on all alcoholic products is being temporarily capped at two per cent starting next month instead of a planned six per cent increase.
The federal budget shows the government's proposed dental-care insurance program will cost more than double what the Liberals originally thought, driving it up by another $7.3 billion over five years.
Tucked into the 2023 federal budget unveiled on Tuesday in Ottawa, the Liberals have announced plans to explore implementing a standard charging port across Canada, in an effort to save Canadians some money and reduce waste.
The federal Liberal government is committing $8.7 million to hold more consultations on Indigenous resource sharing, in a budget that offers relatively little new spending on its reconciliation agenda.
In the wake of another deadly mass shooting in America, that saw children as young as nine years old shot and killed, the gun control debate is going nowhere, writes CTV News political analyst Eric Ham.
Another American community is reeling after a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville. These are the three children and three adults whose lives were taken by the shooter.
Nashville police have released security camera footage of a suspected shooter entering the private Christian elementary school. The shooting claimed the lives of three children, all aged nine, and three adults.
A B.C. man has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend's daughter nearly a decade ago, when the girl would have been just eight years old.
The Pizza Hut employee who was shot at his workplace earlier this month is on the long road to recovery, his sister has confirmed Tuesday to CTV News Edmonton.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
The 22-year-old accused of fatally stabbing a teenager at a Toronto subway station Saturday night has been wanted in Newfoundland for almost two years, CTV News Toronto has learned.
The mother of a five-year-old girl said her daughter was allegedly bullied so badly she was left with a partially amputated finger from an incident in the washroom.
A Toronto man is wanted for a February incident in which he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman he followed off public transit before taking her phone and sexually assaulted her again, police say.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
Rima Rifai thought her furnace had exploded Monday when the house across the street burst into a ball of fire, sending 10 people to hospital with serious injuries.
Montreal police say they have identified two more victims found in the rubble of a fire in Old Montreal 12 days ago. Charlie Lacroix and Walid Belkahla, both 18, are the sixth and seventh victims of the fire.
A Quebec provincial police officer was fatally stabbed Monday night while performing an arrest in Louiseville, west of Trois-Rivieres, Que. The Surete du Quebec (SQ) has confirmed the identity of the officer, Sgt. Maureen Breau, who had been on the force for over 20 years. She was assigned to the post of the MRC de Maskinonge. Another officer was injured during the incident, but their life is not in danger.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
Almost three years after a man disguised as a Mountie started murdering people in Portapique, N.S., on the night of April 18, 2020, the senior RCMP officers and staff involved in the tragic case have all either retired or moved into new jobs.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
New Brunswickers suffering from a mystery neurological disorder are calling for an investigation into potential environmental causes of the health problems they've been living with for more than two years.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
Regina Mayor Sandra Masters said the city will more than likely continue to follow Health Canada guidelines when it comes to asbestos cement pipes (ACP) that carry drinking water to residents’ homes.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
Provincial police say a group of teenagers caused a train to make an emergency stop because they were lying on the tracks as the train approached in New Tecumseth.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
A Saskatoon couple says they felt ignored by police after their five-year-old foster son was attacked by a dog outside the Meadowgreen Confectionary on March 22.
The driver of a pickup truck, a 47-year-old woman, has died after a crash with a tanker on MR55 in the Greater Sudbury community of Lively on Tuesday morning, police say.
Nashville police have released security camera footage of a suspected shooter entering the private Christian elementary school. The shooting claimed the lives of three children, all aged nine, and three adults.
The mother of a five-year-old girl said her daughter was allegedly bullied so badly she was left with a partially amputated finger from an incident in the washroom.
FortisBC says it received a report of a damaged gas line around 11:30 a.m. Jan. 23, 2023. (CTV News)
