Evacuation in Proctorville follows gas line mishap
Published 9:55 am Friday, June 11, 2010
PROCTORVILLE — Approximately 25 families were evacuated at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the Thomas Street area of the village of Proctorville after crews hit an underground Columbia Gas line.
Operators from Sewer Optical Services out of Lebanon, Ind., were working on the ongoing sewer-cleaning project throughout the county. A crewmember was routinely cleaning out an 8-inch line with a saw when he hit an obstruction.
“My operator wasn’t getting through so I told him to pull the equipment,” SOS foreman Marty Wolfe said. “I put a camera in and spotted the gas line.”
The operator had almost sawed through the 4-inch gas line, which was running perpendicularly through the sewer line.
Columbia Gas was immediately notified and arrived on the scene with a backhoe to re-route the gas line.
“We thought it was safe to evacuate,” Proctorville Mayor Charles Stapleton said.
There were no injuries or explosion at the scene.