National Grid Repairing Ridley Road Gas Break

The smell of Mercaptan, the chemical added to natural gas to give it that raw eggs odor, could be detected on Lexington and White streets. On Ripley Road, a backhoe and repair trucks from National Grid were tearing up the street outside 22 Ripley to find and repair a serious leak in a gas line entering the house.

As workers took out the pavement on the closed street, Belmont Fire Department crews were finishing taking air measurements after receiving a call around noon that gas was leaking into the basement of 22 Ripley.

An investigation found a major gas leak on the street, requiring the gas utility to also dig out a portion of nearby Beech Street to stem the gas flow. 

National Grid crews said the leak should be repaired by 4 p.m. if not earlier. 

While fire crews were at the site, Belmont received mutual aid from Waltham and Cambridge.