Gas Line Rupture Leads to Evacuation at King Pharmaceuticals

BRISTOL, Tenn. – A ruptured natural gas line forced the evacuation Thursday afternoon of King Pharmaceuticals.

The line, on King’s property along 5th Street, was struck at 4:06 p.m. by a crew performing contract work for the company, Bristol Tennessee Fire Department Battalion Chief Dwayne Honaker said.

The company, Gamewell Mechanical, dug into the ground with a backhoe and hit a gas line about 20 feet away from the building and about the same distance from the nearby railroad tracks, he added. The company was installing a sewer line, Honaker said.

Gas spewed from the line for 30 minutes before it was capped, Honaker said. It forced a 15-minute closure of the CSX railroad line adjoining King Pharmaceuticals. No roads were closed.

Company workers began returning inside by 5 p.m., as firefighters OK’d the far side of the building for return and continued to inspect rooms near the leak for gas pockets.

Thursday’s incident was the second gas line rupture to disrupt business in Bristol recently. A March 10 mix-up by McCall Fencing, of Johnson City, Tenn., ruptured a natural gas line and forced police to close portions of State Street in downtown Bristol for several hours.

In that case, a McCall Fencing supervisor forgot to check with the state’s underground utility monitoring group, Tennessee Regulation Agency, before digging.

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