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Kelowna  

Safe digging - it's a gas

Madison Erhardt

Avoiding gas line hits was the focus of a FortisBC workshop on Thursday.

Line breaks are not only costly, they're dangerous. A line break in Kelowna earlier this year forced the evacuation of at least two apartment buildings.

Fortis hosted contractors at the Enterprise firehall in Kelowna to show examples of safe excavation and line location.

"Today we have one of our series of courses for people (who) work on underground infrastructure. We have a great partnership with the fire department that allows us to use their facility," said Ian Turnbull, damage control manager with Fortis. 

The outdoor demo included a utility line location and hydro excavation, which uses pressurized water and an industrial vacuum.

"What we find with the folks working in the industry is they really like to see the practical side of it. They like to get out and see how the equipment works, and get a better understanding of the effectiveness," Turnbull added. 

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