Homes Briefly Evacuated After Crew Causes Gas Leak on Alpine Avenue

Updated at 3:20 p.m. Friday

Several homes in the 8500 block of Alpine Avenue were briefly evacuated Friday afternoon after a company putting in a water main accidentally sliced through a natural gas pipeline, officials said.

A crew from SC Valley Engineering was using a map that showed one gas pipeline, but two were on top of one another, said Sonny Saghera, a spokesman for Heartland Fire & Rescue, which dispatched several fire engines to the area a few blocks east of Sprouts (the former Henry’s grocery store).

Within 5 minutes after severing a three-quarter-inch pipe about 12:50 p.m., Heartland units were on the scene, Saghera said. Three units from La Mesa responded—two engines and one truck from the Allison Avenue and Grossmont Boulevard stations.

Two engines also came from the San Miguel fire district, Saghera said.

Some 20 homes were targeted for evacuation, Saghera said, but only three or four had residents that needed to leave. They were able to return by 2 p.m.—after less than an hour.

Repairs were made by San Diego Gas & Electric Co, which was on the scene within 15 minutes of getting a report of the leak, Saghera said.

The pipeline leak was near the corner of Edenvale Avenue and Alpine, which was blocked to traffic.