Dozens of people evacuated from homes due to gas leak in west Edmonton

Several homes were evacuated after a gas leak on Thursday morning.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services was called to 226 Street and 80 Avenue around 10:10 a.m. after a gas line was hit during construction.

Several homes were evacuated after a gas leak in west Edmonton on Sept. 22. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

Five homes were initially evacuated. According to ATCO, the line that was struck was a main feeder line. In total, about 65 houses were impaced, half of which ended up being evacuated for precautionary reasons, the company estimated.

Between 60 and 70 people were displaced, according to EFRS' count.

“They just came to our doors, knocked, said there’s a gas leak. Some bulldozer guy just hit the pipeline and it started hissing a lot,” Josh Dahunsi told CTV News Edmonton.

He and his father were forced out of their home by the leak.

“Kind of panic, because they’re coming to our door saying, ‘Oh, there’s a gas leak.’ I’m like, 'OK, so we could blow up at any moment.’”

Paul Cruz and his cat Goose were also evacuated. He says a firefighter knocked on his front door.

“He was like, ‘We have a situation,’ and I bolted down here with my cat,” Cruz said.

Paul Cruz and his cat Goose were evacuated from their home due to a gas leak on Sept. 22, 2022.

“The moment I went back outside I could smell gas for sure.”

ATCO was called to the scene to handle the leak, and police to assist with traffic.

Service was returned to all 65 impacted homes by 1:20 p.m. 

A power outage also affected thousands of customers in west Edmonton, but EPCOR did not confirm it was related to the outage.