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A construction crew on an LRT-related work site tore open a gas line on Tuesday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of at least five downtown buildings and snarling rush hour traffic.

A loud hissing noise echoed through the downtown core for nearly three hours while Enbridge worked to shut off the gas line and firefighters emptied buildings surrounding the construction site on Queen Street just east of O’Connor Street. The scent of gas lingered in the air for blocks.

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Ottawa Fire Services received a call for a “major gas leak” at 1:21 p.m. Firefighters expanded an evacuation zone to cover a four-block radius in each direction. Police directed pedestrians away from the site and closed surrounding roads to traffic.

Photo by Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia

Photo by Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia

Photo by Julie Oliver / Postmedia

The leak had an immediate impact in the area bounded by Wellington, Elgin, Albert and O’Connor streets.

The closure of Albert Street between Elgin and O’Connor streets forced Transitway buses to take detours around the evacuation zone during the beginning of the afternoon rush hours.

Emergency services reported no injuries.

Deputy Fire Chief Kim Ayotte said the fire department’s job was to minimize the hazards by evacuating the area and keeping ignition sources away. Firefighters were monitoring the air quality at various locations around the evacuation zone.

“It’s only dangerous when we get into the flammable ranges of the gas and the gas reaches an ignition source. That’s why we evacuated people,” Ayotte said at a command post set up on O’Connor near Slater.

“The evacuation was very successful of the buildings. It was orderly and people got out of the buildings. We had no incidents and no injuries.”