The Morgan Hill Fire Department received a call of a ruptured gas line on Pratola Court off Watsonville Road in Morgan Hill at about 5 p.m. Thursday – dispatching four engines and an utility engine to the scene.
The six-inch gas line was ruptured in front of a Pratola Court residence, according to the dispatcher. The Battalion chief was on the scene.
Morgan Hill police officers also responded and isolated the area and they waited for PG&E workers to arrive and shut off the gas line, according to the fire department dispatcher.
At approximately 6 p.m., resident Esteban Peralta told the Times he and other neighbors were still waiting at the corner near Watsonville Road to be allowed back to their homes. Peralta said he could “smell the gas” and “hear the hissing.”
“The smell is really strong,” said Peralta, who did not know the name of the resident who ruptured the line, only that he was the owner of the property. “Where we are you can hear the hissing.”
Peralta said he left his home just before 5 p.m. Thursday and noticed a neighbor digging up the front of the property with a tractor or Bobcat. When Peralta returned from the grocery store, the road was blocked off and he could smell gas.
