A maintenance crew broke a valve on Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) gas transmission line #132 at approximately 6:15 p.m.. The pipeline is directly in front of Stanford Golf Course, along Junipero Serra near the intersection with Campus Drive West, according to a Palo Alto press release. PG&E crews are working to repair the pipeline, stating that gas service was expected to be restored at about 9:30 p.m.
Those people who evacuated to the golf course and other locations have since been escorted away from the leak.
The broken piece is a 2-inch gas valve that is fed from a 24-inch line, causing the gas to leak out at high pressure. According to one firefighter at the scene, a total of ten firefighters were left on the scene at about 8:15 p.m.
Junipero Serra and Campus Drive West are closed to traffic in the blocks near the intersection, and SUDPS is advising anybody within a three-quarter mile radius of the intersection to stay indoors.
Line #132 is the same line that failed in September 2010 in San Bruno, causing an explosion that killed eight. Tests conducted in November 2011 found two sections that required repair – one along from Alma Road in Palo Alto to Branner Drive in Menlo Park and another starting at the intersection of Sand Hill Road and Branner, running north to Interstate 280 – but did not indicate a need to replace the pipeline.
On Wednesday, PG&E performed a controlled venting procedure from line #109 on the Stanford Golf Course.
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