Niskayuna, NY – A natural gas leak forced the evacuation of several homes in Old Niskayuna on Tuesday, but the vapors did not ignite and no people or pets were injured.
A resident of Coolidge Ct. was attempting to install a dryer when he accidentally hit the gas line, Niskayuna Fire Captain Richard Dick’ Fritz, Jr. said. The house filled with an explosive amount of natural gas.
That’s what happens in a lot of older homes, Fritz said. The pipes — especially on connections — if they get bumped a little bit, they break. They’re brittle because they’ve been sitting there for a long time. So it’s something that’s quite common.
National Grid shut-off the gas line, but it took close to 90 minutes for the vapors to dissipate. During that time, the residents and their neighbors watched helplessly from a safe distance.
The scare occurred eight months to the day after a natural gas explosion rocked Schenectady’s Avenue B, destroying one home and heavily damaging two others. No one was injured.