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Abbotsford contractors and residents wreaking less gas line havoc

After 51 gas lines were damaged in 2017, FortisBC urged residents & contractors to be more careful
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Fifty-one gas lines were damaged in Abbotsford in 2017. Technical Safety BC photo

Abbotsford is back off FortisBC’s naughty-diggers list.

Last year, the natural gas company pointed out that gas lines kept getting damaged by contractors and residents digging in the ground.

Gas lines were damaged 51 times – an average of nearly once per week – in 2017. That was double the number of damaged lines in 2016 and put the city on a list of “high hit municipalities,” leading the company to urge residents and contractors to figure out what’s buried before they dig. Sixty per cent of damages are related to contractor activity.

Diggers seemed to get the message. Last year, 35 gas lines were damaged.

That led officials from FortisBC to commend Abbotsford for scaling back on all the gas line destruction.

At least three days before digging, residents are urged to visit bc1c.ca or phone BC 1 Call at 1-800-474-6886. BC 1 Call will then provide information about where gas lines are buried.

RELATED: Gladys Avenue construction tied to new Abbotsford transit depot


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