COMMUNITY NEWS

Workers hit gas pipe behind Merrick Shopping Center

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Workers for Hogan Plumbing and Heating, Inc., a Babylon company, struck a natural gas pipe last Friday afternoon behind Merrick Shopping Center, at Merrick Road and Lindenmere Drive, according to Don Hogan, the company’s owner. The Merrick Fire Department evacuated more than a dozen houses near the shopping center, and the Nassau County Police Department shut down a block of Merrick Road, but officials quickly determined that there was no danger.

Hogan said his workers were digging at about 1 p.m. behind Merrick Shopping Center — which houses Gap and Jos. A. Bank stores and where a Chipotle Mexican Grill is slated to open — to install water service for Chipotle’s storefront. They accidentally hit a natural gas pipe instead, he reported.

“It was a bad mark,” Hogan said.

Eric Chosed, owner of the Merrick Shopping Center, described the incident as a “gas main break,” as did police in a travel advisory.

Twenty-five Merrick firefighters rushed to the scene in three fire engines, a ladder truck and a heavy rescue truck, according to Ron Luparello, a fire department spokesman. The firefighters immediately connected their hoses to fire hydrants in case they needed them. Police blocked Merrick Road between Lindenmere Drive and Merrick Avenue. The firefighters also evacuated houses on Bonnie and Melthew courts, south of the shopping center, after a Bonnie Court homeowner reported smelling gas, Luparello said.

National Grid dispatched eight vehicles to Merrick Shopping Center. Hogan said the energy company’s crews arrived by 1:30 p.m., while Luparello estimated the time at 2 p.m. National Grid did not respond to calls for comment.

Hogan spoke to the Herald Life at 3 p.m. in the parking lot of Merrick Shopping Center as he watched National Grid workers break through asphalt and excavate earth around a buried pipe with construction machinery and shovels. Firefighters and police officers had left by then.

Chosed said he believed their response “was just precautionary.”

“In fact, I’ve heard that Gap and Joseph A. Bank didn’t even skip a beat as far as their sales,” he said.