Natural gas leak forces evacuation in Sylvania

6/10/2006

A natural gas leak yesterday in Sylvania caused the evacuation of eight homes and left an auto body shop and a post office without service for several hours.

The leak occurred about 10:45 a.m. on Silvertown Drive, south of Alexis Road, when contractors with the Sylvania Water Department struck a plastic gas line with a backhoe. The line was a main line, six inches in diameter.

Residents of nearby homes were evacuated for about two hours, Deputy Fire Chief Tom Eisel said.

Chris Kozak, community relations manager for Columbia Gas of Ohio, which owns the line, said the all-clear was given about 1 p.m. after the leak had been secured.

The pipe section was replaced yesterday afternoon.

Also affected by the outage were Dave White Body Shop, 5328 Alexis, and the U.S. Post Office, 5745 Post Office Way.