Mar. 11--BRISTOL, Tenn. -- A portion of downtown State Street was closed for several hours Tuesday and all businesses in the 800 block were evacuated because a broken gas line posed a threat of explosion.

About 2 p.m., workers for McCall Commercial Fencing, out of Johnson City, hit an underground natural gas pipe with an auger while drilling fence post holes in the parking lot behind Kil'n Time, Bristol Fire Sgt. Dave Vencil said.

As a result, a geyser of gas shot a constant spray about 4 feet into the air throughout the afternoon.

"The way that the gas is leaking, a single spark could create a major explosion," Vencil said.

Two dozen officers from both Bristol police departments closed off State Street and the parallel section of Shelby Street, and directed traffic and pedestrians away from the area for more than three hours while Atmos Energy, which owns the underground line, repaired the break.

The threat of explosion continued until the gas was shut off at 5 p.m., Bristol Tennessee Police Capt. Matt Austin said.

At first, crews were concerned about the possible heat source of two kilns inside the pottery business, Vencil said. The kilns are fired to 1,800 degrees when in use. At 2:30 p.m., the doors were locked at the business and it seemed no one was inside, Vencil said.

Owned by Jeff and Terri Gregory, Kil'n Time is closed Tuesdays and the kilns were not in operation, Terri Gregory said in a later telephone interview. However, she said, the kilns are in a solid brick room with no windows, and no gas runs into the kiln room or anywhere in the building, which is fire-proofed to the fullest extent possible.

Officials from Bristol Virginia Utilities, Bristol Tennessee Essential Services and Embarq all have underground lines in the vicinity and were on the scene while Atmos crews clamped the gas line a short distance from the break to cut the gas before fixing the broken line, said Mike Carrier, assistant fire chief at Bristol Tennessee.

The process was complicated by the fire hazard and other factors, Vencil said.

"You fix it like you would a water line break, but this has more hazards," he said. "It's more complicated because we couldn't get to the break because the augur was still down there. We couldn't turn the machine on to move it because it could cause a spark."

McCall Fencing was subcontracted by Burwil Construction, the company the Gregorys hired more than a year ago for a remodeling project, Terri Gregory said.

"This was one of the loose ends on the outside, the fencing was just sort of the tail end of some things in the back area," she said.

McCall didn't check the location of underground utilities before digging, an Atmos Energy official said.

Under Tennessee law, anyone who plans to dig, excavate or otherwise disturb the earth, is required by law to check with utilities about the location of underground lines.

"The operator did not have a locate" request, said Bobby Cox, operations manager of Atmos in the Tri-Cities. "After we make the situation safe, the operator will be charged for all the work associated with replacing the line and then face the Tennessee Regulatory Authority."

In other words, the incident will not cost taxpayers, Cox said.

The state authority operates the Tennessee One-Call program, which notifies utilities. Failure to secure a locate ticket is a misdemeanor punishable by jail, fine or both.

Staff writer David McGee contributed to this report.

ahunter@bristolnews.com| (276) 645-2531

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