MORE ON THE GAS LEAK NEAR MIDDLE AVENUE:

Assistant Elyria Fire Chief Ron Brlas said the meters they use to for gas readings were at 12 last night at the group home. Ten is the lowest reading – where something can catch fire and explode. Meter readers around the gas station about 1 p.m. were at 55. Earlier in the day, they had reached 100 percent – any spark could have set off an explosion.

 

HERE’S THE LATEST:

After last night’s report of a gas leak, city crews were out in force this morning and realized the situation hadn’t gotten better at about 9 a.m., according to Terry Korzan, the city’s utilities superintendent. Crews on Wednesday night had erected barriers to keep the leaked gasoline from making its way to the sewers, but it had breached those barriers, he said.

At about 11 a.m. today, the situation worsened to an emergency level when vapor readings skyrocketed. 

The city shut down East Avenue from Fourth Street to Ninth Street, and residents trying to make their way to homes in that area have to park and walk to get there. Residents have not been evacuated — it sounds as if emergency crews were trying to avoid that if at all possible.

Earlier notice:

There is no evacuation — at least, not now.

Firefighters instead are knocking on doors, telling homeowners to unplug their appliances and to flush their water systems for 15 minutes or so to dissipate the gas vapors that have made their way into homes in the area. An East Avenue homeowner told us there was a strong odor of gasoline coming from a drain in her basement.

Meanwhile, a Middle Avenue resident said she frequents the Gas USA station – where officials say the gas leaked from underground pipes — in the past week or so and she mentioned that it smelled like gasoline when she was inside. Within days, she said she saw crews out there digging up the place, so she assumed they had a leak and they were repairing it themselves. Today, she was sitting in the sunroom of her home — two doors away from the station — watching a swarm of city and county officials and safety crews as they buzzed around the station.

 
More to come….

EARLIER…..

The gas leak that forced the evacuation of a county group home Wednesday night near Gas USA on Middle Avenue is causing more problems today.

Firefighters now are going door to door on the residential streets in the surrounding area, checking on occupants and forewarning them about what is happening.

A stretch of East Avenue also was shut down while the matter was addressed. As of now, it doesn’t sound like an evacuation of the neighborhood is in progress.

City, police and fire officials are swarming the area to address the problem, and representatives of the county’s Emergency Management Agency are on scene, too.

We’ll update as we get more, so stay tuned…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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