ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A gas leak in St. Johns County had to be burned off Friday afternoon after multiple mitigation efforts.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue posted photos to Facebook.
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SJCFR is currently mitigating a propane gas leak at 240 A1A N. At 4:04 PM a call for service was placed with the St....
Posted by St. Johns County Fire Rescue on Friday, August 30, 2019
Crews responded to the St. Johns County Communication Center at 240 A1A North when a caller reported smelling gas in the area. There they found a broken and leaking underground LPG tank.
SJCFR HazMat teams responded and attempted to mitigate the leak, but were unsuccessful due to the damaged condition of the tank.
According to SJCFR, in order to make the tank safe, the gas had to be burned off using a process called "flaring."
In the Facebook post SJCFR explained that "flaring" involves crews re-plumbing the tank to attach a piece of equipment called "the red dragon" that raises the burn off flare high above the ground to control the amount of liquid and vapor burned off.
Once the gas was safely burned off, the teams used water hoses to cool nearby buildings and surrounding areas.
The mitigation efforts caused traffic delays along A1A North Friday afternoon and evening.