Firefighters Respond to Natural Gas Leak
Spokane Valley, Wash. – Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) units responded to a reported natural gas leak in the 12200 block of East Broadway Avenue around 4:15 this afternoon. The first arriving units made contact with the operators of an underground boring machine. The machine had punctured a gas line in the east bound lanes of Broadway. An audible hiss of gas was clearly audible. The incident was upgraded with more units being dispatched to the scene.
Broadway Avenue was completely blocked off between Pines and Wilbur, to prevent anyone from entering the area. Nine adjacent buildings were evacuated. Several buildings were found to have detectable levels of natural gas. The power was disconnected to those buildings to prevent any possible explosions.
Firefighters deployed and manned fire hoses and sprayed down the street where the gas was escaping. Several crews from Avista Utilities brought in equipment to gain access to the leaking gas lines. SVFD crews continued to man the fire hoses to protect the Avista crews while they worked. Avista crews were finally able to shut off the gas around 7:00 PM. Avista crews remained on scene to complete repairs on the gas line.
After the gas leak was contained, firefighters returned to the adjoining businesses to make sure that the gas had dissipated.
A total of 12 apparatus and support vehicles responded to the scene. No firefighter injuries were reported.
Spokane Valley Fire Department would like to remind residents to drive carefully when driving near active incident scenes. Several firefighters are killed every year in the United States when they are hit by inattentive drivers.
About SVFD
Spokane Valley Fire Department serves the City of Spokane Valley, City of Liberty Lake, City of Millwood and unincorporated areas of Spokane County with a combined population of 125,000 across 75 square miles. SVFD firefighters and paramedics responded to more than 16,250 emergency calls in 2016. Established in 1940, SVFD is an Accredited Agency by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, one of only a handful in Washington State. SVFD operates 10 stations providing fire suppression, emergency medical services, vehicle extrication, hazardous materials response, special operations rescue, fire investigation, fire prevention, commercial property inspection.
Craig Warzon
Rescue 8 Captain C Shift
Spokane Valley Fire Department