On Thursday, April 29, a private contractor attempting to install fiber optic lines on Stanford Street near Washington Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard struck the 16” gas main, which supplies a large amount of power to Santa Monica, causing a natural gas leak and the subsequent evacuation of 65 households in the surrounding area. There were no reports of injuries or damage to homes.
After assessing the damage to the main, the pipeline owner contacted WeldFit, and within hours WeldFit mobilized crews and equipment to site to begin work.
The team performed a double 16” line stop operation to isolate the damaged section. This process involved performing two 16” pipeline taps and setting two 16” plugging heads in the line to allow repairs to the damaged section to commence. Upon completion of the repairs, WeldFit removed the plugging heads and installed completion plugs and blind flanges on the fittings.
Brian Anderson, President of WeldFit’s Hot Tap & Line Stop business, said the responsiveness of the WeldFit team is a big part of what allowed natural gas service to be restored to impacted residents before the end of the weekend.
“Hats off to all our guys who went above and beyond to safely and swiftly get this line stopped for emergency repair for the City of Santa Monica,” Anderson said.
