FIRST responders to a major gas leak, which has seen gas supplies to Bathurst severed, have told how they came across jets of gas coming from the Macquarie River which were at least one metre high.
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The gas leak was discovered just after 8pm on Wednesday evening on the Young Lithgow Pipeline that affected gas supply to Bathurst, Wallerawang, Lithgow and Oberon.
Operations manager for the Chifley / Lithgow Rural Fire Services (RFS), Brett Taylor, said initial responders were called to the end of Montavella Road, Gorman's Hill after receiving a Triple-0 call just after 8pm.
"NSW RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW both attended the incident and upon further investigation we found it was gas leaking out of the middle of the Macquarie River," he said.
He said when they arrived the saw bubbles coming from the water which were at least one metre high.
Mr Taylor said firefighters from Fire and Rescue used a gas detector which detected the leak.
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"We also knew from our mapping system that at that location there was a major gas line running under the Macquarie River and we put two and two together," he said.
He said the gas company were already notified of the situation and, with no fire risk, the RFS departed the scene.
"Fire and Rescue stayed on site, there was nothing more we could do there was no fire risk as such and Fire and Rescue stayed until gas turned off completely," he said.
He said he understood the situation was connected to the recent flooding of the Macquarie River.
"I believe so - flooding has washed away the river underneath where the pipe was, and the pipe has become exposed," he said.
Meanwhile large sections of the city remain without gas supplies, with both commercial and residential properties affected.
A spokesperson for APA said turning gas back on in the Bathurst area will take some time, however, and updates will be provided as soon as they become available.
As Bathurst is progressively reinstated, gas supply to Wallerawang, Lithgow and Oberon is expected to remain affected for some time.
Crews continue to work as quickly and as safely as possible to investigate. An initial assessment suggests that flooding is likely to be a factor, however, we continue to investigate the cause.
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