No one was injured, and the leak was controlled in about two hours, County Emergency Manager Denise Hendrickson said.
Dome Pipeline Corp. spokesman Gregg Schweitzer said employees were doing maintenance work on the line when a gasket on a valve apparently failed around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Neither he nor Alexandra Wright, a spokeswoman for Dome's parent company, BP Canada Energy, had an immediate estimate on the amount of gas released.
``There isn't any immediate danger to the public,'' Wright said.
``We had to evacuate four to six farms just as a precaution,'' said Mantador Fire Chief Neal Goerger. ``The levels of propane were quite high on the highway, so we blocked the highway off. About all we could do at that time was to let the propane come out, and then try and keep all ignition sources down.''
Schweitzer and Hendrickson said none of the gas burned.
``We're trying to isolate (the line) further, depressure it and repair it,'' Schweitzer said Wednesday night.
Hendrickson said Canadian Pacific Railway was asked not to send trains through the area Wednesday. The tracks are near the pipeline. Some of the roads that were blocked by emergency officials after the leak were reopening Wednesday night, she said.
Goerger said the trains were later allowed to resume.
``The wind remained stable, so we were able to let the trains go,'' the fire chief said early Thursday.
``The product is still coming out,'' he said. ``As soon as we get daylight, they'll be able to go in and assess.''
In July 2003, a Dome pipeline in Barnes County leaked northwest of Valley City, burning an estimated 9,000 barrels of propane and sending flames as high as 100 feet in the air. Schweitzer said the incident in Richland County was not of the same magnitude.
No one was injured and no structures were threatened in the Barnes County rupture, which federal officials said apparently was caused by a leak that resulted from stress, corrosion and cracking of the line.
