Natural gas leak causes traffic disruption in Bridgetown

Natural gas supplies were turned off, part of Fairchild Street was cordoned off, and several roads in Bridgetown were closed after a gas leak resulted in an underground fire on Tuesday morning.

The Barbados Fire Service received a report about a car on fire on Fairchild Street, in the area of Freedom Park near the traffic lights, and when fire officers arrived on the scene, they found the engine bay of the vehicle, owned by Richard Broomes, on fire.

They extinguished the blaze but realised there was still fire coming from the manhole underneath the car. 

On the advice of the National Petroleum Corporation and the Fire Service, the Barbados Police Service advised all pedestrian and vehicular traffic to avoid the area, as work was conducted to resolve the situation.

Broomes told Barbados TODAY that his car engine had stopped working in the area about 5:45 a.m., just before the fire started.

Richard Broomes helps to move his vehicle off the manhole his car was over when it caught fire.

“The car engine cut out [and] I tried starting back and it would not start. So I popped the bonnet, I went to take a look and see if anything was out of the ordinary [but] everything was intact. I got back in again, [tried] to start, nothing [happened] I turned off, and I heard a loud boom,” he said.

“I got out and walked away from it because [I was scared]. As I walked away, another gentleman on the side of the terminal said to me that the car was on fire. So I went back into the terminal booth and called the fire department and came back over. By that time, the front of it was engulfed in flames.”

Broomes said that after emergency officials arrived on the scene, it was discovered that the fire had erupted from the manhole.

Given that the origin of the leak was unknown, the NPC sealed off all lines running in and out of the area. 

“After being notified of a fire in the area of Fairchild and Nelson Streets this morning, in the proximity of our natural gas pipeline, the National Petroleum Corporation responded. Out of an abundance of caution, gas supplies have been turned off in Fairchild and Nelson Streets while the NPC conducts its checks to ensure the areas remain safe,” stated an official release from Acting General Manager Mechelle Smith. (SB)