Crews Digging Near Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Hit Gas, Electric Lines -- Twice

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – Crews digging with heavy equipment in the vicinity of Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square struck electrical and gas lines in two separate incidents Monday afternoon, according to firefighters.

Firefighters responded to Old Courthouse Square at 12:59 p.m. and found that a tractor had struck an unmarked underground electrical line.

The 12-kilovolt line had energized the tractor, which was starting to catch fire, but firefighters were able to put it out with a dry chemical extinguisher.

PG&E isolated the electrical line and the situation was under control around 2:20 p.m.

Then at 4:04 p.m., firefighters responded to 37 Old Courthouse Square on report of a natural gas leak. On scene they found that a backhoe had struck a 2-inch gas line.

Nearby businesses were evacuated while PG&E stopped the leak and the situation was under control by 4:30 p.m.

No injuries were reported in either incident.

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--Bay City News