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Photo courtesy Honolulu Fire Department
A city truck at a Pearl City corporation yard ruptured
a pipe connecting two 1,000-gallon propane tanks
yesterday, fogging up the area when the leaking
gas was exposed to the change in temperature.

City truck ruptures
propane link; homes,
workers evacuated

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By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

A city worker driving a truck in the Pearl City corporation yard ruptured a pipe that connects two 1,000-gallon tanks of liquid petroleum gas yesterday.

The resulting propane gas cloud forced the evacuation of four or five homes and routed city workers in the yard, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Richard Soo said.

Firefighters from the Pearl City Fire Station two blocks away responded in minutes, shooting a heavy fog stream to cool off the tanks and break up the gas cloud.

Hazardous material crews, donning special gear and breathing apparatus, went in and shut off both tanks.

Soo said it was lucky the accident occurred on a Sunday. Had it occurred on a weekday when the nearby business office and shop area would have been open, and where a heater is located, the highly flammable gas might have exploded, he said.

No one was injured in the incident. The city yard at 952 Third St. houses the city departments of Environmental Services and Transportation Services.