Charles Warner|Daily Times Robert Ashmore stands in the ditch dug around a natural gas line on South Boyce Street while Bryan West walks up around it. The City of Union Utility Department Natural Gas Division employees were part of work crew that was repairing the line Tuesday morning.

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Charles Warner|Daily Times Bryan West, a utility worker for the City of Union, works with a length of pipe from a gas line running along South Boyce Street. The line began leaking gas on Monday after some equipment being use to repair it malfunctioned, forcing authorities to evacuate six homes and close the street while utility personnel worked to fix it.

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Charles Warner|Daily Times Utility worker Robert Ashmore welds a gas line running along South Boyce Street Tuesday morning. Ashmore was part of a crew of City of Union Utility Department Natural Gas Division employees working to repair the line which began leaking Monday afternoon.

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UNION — A street was closed and six houses evacuated after an equipment malfunction caused a natural gas leak Monday.

Joe Nichols, director of the City of Union Utility Department, said natural gas division personnel were attempting to repair a gas line running along South Boyce Street around 5 p.m. when the malfunction occurred.

“It was an older, four-inch steel gas line that had some deterioration,” Nichols said. “We were trying to put what we call a stopper valve in the line when the mechanism used to install it malfunctioned. We were not able to put the stopper valve on and so we had gas blowing out for a short period of time.”

Nichols said that while city personnel worked to repair the line, South Boyce Street was closed to traffic and six houses near the site evacuated as a safety precaution. He said firefighters from the Union Public Safety Department were called to the scene to stand by in case their help was needed.

“We called in the fire department to stand by while we made sure we get everything back together and shut it down,” Nichols said. “We got it shut down and the street reopened and the people back in their homes after about two hours.”

A utility crew was back at the scene Tuesday morning preparing to finish fixing the line.

“We’re cutting off the lines on some of the streets off of South Boyce Street in order to reduce pressure on the line while we install the valve and repair the line,” Nichols said. “We should have it completed today.”

Nichols said Tuesday afternoon that city personnel completed the repairs around 2 p.m. He said a new section of line replaced the deteriorated section and the stopper valve was installed.

Editor Charles Warner can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 14, or by email at cwarner@heartlandpublications.com.