PLANE tree roots have been blamed for damaging a gas pipeline in Gray Street requiring emergency repairs on Sunday night that included ripping up significant parts of the brick footpath outside Buckle Menswear.

A gas odour was noticed by a local just after 9pm down the street near the Grand Central Hotel, who called 000 which in turn led to a local CFA unit swiftly attending the scene to investigate.

District Five assistant chief fire officer, Kade Dowie, said the normal procedures for the situation were enacted.

“The brigade’s responded and they’ve confirmed the smell of gas and then set up some exclusion zones while they work out where it was safe for people to be,” he said.

“They then called in the gas company to track down the cause of the leak.”

A Downer Group work crew arrived at about 10pm and got to work to trace the leak and isolate it.

A spokesperson on Monday said the roots had “wrapped around the pipe” and split it on the joint.

 “(The crew) worked till four o’clock (Monday) morning to make it safe and right,” he said.

The spokesperson said they were unable to complete the job at the time to do a full repair but had organised to return early Tuesday and replace the broken section of the pipe.

“We’ve got a crew going back in the morning to cut that section out,” he said.

“We’ve had to get a few things organised before we go ahead and cut the main – we’ve got to be able to stop it off and do all that stuff.

“We’ll cut a section out and replace it with brand new pipe.”

Workmen arrived on Tuesday morning with heavy equipment to complete the job, which was expected to take most of the day.

The task was not anticipated to affect supply of gas to nearby premises.