Authorities are still looking to identify and repair a gas leak that caused an explosion and fire at a Centreville home Sunday night. The house was located in the 14300 block of Quail Pond Court.
At a Tuesday news briefing, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Eric Craven said 46 homes remain evacuated; 82 are without natural gas service. He estimated that it will be another 24 to 72 hours before residents can safely return to their homes.
Craven said the fire department still maintains a significant presence at the scene supporting the National Transportation Safety Board as well as Washington Gas and Williams Pipeline Corporation. Both utilities operate lines in the area, and Craven said the NTSB has jurisdiction over pipeline incidents.
Gas Leak in the Area
Craven said Washington Gas continues to dig holes to pinpoint the source of the leak. “Right now, Washington Gas has multiple dig sites in process as they try and access the lines and determine which lines in the area are leaking,” he said.
Should the leak be in a larger pipeline, Craven said authorities may have to expand their evacuation zone to a quarter mile area that would include an additional 100 homes.
The fire department has been monitoring gas levels in the area hourly. “Some homes have slight concentrations. Some have zero concentrations. … We are seeing that those readings are trending downward, and that downward trend is a result of the fact that we are cording off and sectioning off the gas lines in the area. We believe we have almost all gas service in the area completely eliminated, so the only residual odor of gas or readings that we’re getting are coming up through the soil and that were probably there prior to the incident,” he said.
Firefighters are also on hand to escort evacuated residents to their homes to pick up personal items. “We’ll make sure that we escort them in and take readings of all three levels of their home before we allow them to cross the threshold, to ensure that we’re not meeting the lower explosive limit of combustible gasses in their home,” Craven said.
The NTSB is meeting with affected homeowners Tuesday night to update them on the investigation. Craven said he expects the agency to issue a statement after the meeting.
Feature image courtesy Fairfax County Fire & Rescue
