Springfield Boulevard Feeling Gassy

Residents who live on Springfield Boulevard awoke Friday to a loud hissing sound, the result of a construction crew accidentally rupturing a gas main.
Workers from Carp Construction were putting in underground water pipes on Springfield Boulevard between 49th and 50th Avenues, at approximately 8:20 a.m., when one of the crew members hit a plastic gas pipe, which runs five feet under the street. The construction company called Con Edison to staunch the leak and the Fire Department to isolate the area.
Lou Montalvo, the construction rep for Con Edison, said the power company was able to shut down the leak within a half hour.
Larry Ptraglia, whose home, on 49th Avenue and Springfield Boulevard, is right in front of the main break, said he was lying down when his wife heard hissing. She woke him when she realized the gas main on the street had been torn.
"It really smelled bad," said Ptraglia.
Residents living in houses along Springfield Boulevard from 48th Avenue to 50th Avenue, and some who live up 49th Avenue, were evacuated by the Fire Department. Ptraglia, who has difficulty walking, said firefighters came to his house and carried him out. There were no reported injuries from the break. Residents were allowed to return to their houses after a couple hours.
"Con Ed came right away and did a great job," said one resident who only gave his first name, Bob. He was in his home on 49th Avenue, a few houses away from the gas leak. He said he heard a roaring sound, a quarter past 8 a.m., which he thought was water. He went outside to check the cause. When he got to the driveway of his neighbors house on the corner, the smell of gas overwhelmed him.
Carp Construction was in the midst of replacing water pipes on Springfield Boulevard, part of a larger project sponsored by the Department of Environmental Protection to build the Oakland Ravine storm treatment system, which will alleviate environmental problems to the 20-acre park and reduce flooding in the surrounding residential area.
Carp Construction officials said it would only delay construction by a day. Some residents were irked, though, because the construction was supposed to shut off water to houses in the surrounding area from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for three days. However, with the gas break, another day without water is expected.