The Pierre Volunteer Fire Department responded to two indoor gas leak calls late afternoon and early evening yesterday (Aug. 16, 2021).
At approximately 4:15pm, the department was dispatched to the 700 block of North Taylor Avenue for an indoor gas leak. As a precaution, they immediately started evacuations of the surrounding homes.
A contractor was removing a deck and broke a gas line that entered into the home. Montana Dakota Utilities noted explosive levels in the home, so utilities were disconnected and the home was vented. Once the home was cleared, all evacuees were allowed to return to their residences.
Electricity was temporarily disconnected for this incident, which may have affected some homes in the immediate area. However, this outage is unrelated to the power outage in other parts of the Pierre that happened at the same time.
Then shortly before 6pm, Pierre firefighters responded to a second call where an occupant noticed the odor of gas in the home, this time in the 400 block of west Capitol Avenue. Firefighters again evacuated the immediate area as a precaution. MDU determined there was a trace of gas in the home, but nowhere near an explosive level. MDU worked on identifying and isolating the source of the odor.
Fire chief Ian Paul says the evacuations and closing roads in the immediate area of the leaks is fairly standard for these type of incidents. He says it helps keep the public and all responders safe until the hazard is mitigated.
Firefighters were on scene at each incident for approximately one hour. Also responding were the Pierre Police Department and the City Electric Department.
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