GREENVILLE — People in Darke County had to leave their homes for hours after a natural gas leak.
“You need to let the emergency crews do their job and get it taken care of,” James Hinshaw of Greenville said.
Hinshaw sheltered in place a half of block away from the scene on North Main and Spring Streets.
Down the block from him, crews were busy trying to get things under control.
Greenville’s Fire Chief Russ Thompson said they got calls reporting the gas leak around 11 a.m.
“We got down here, we did have an active gas leak, a pretty substantial one,” he said.
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He said a company doing fiber optic work in the area hit a CenterPoint Energy gas line.
“A natural gas line was accidentally struck by a third party unrelated to CenterPoint Energy or the company’s operations. Our crews responded by securing the area and safely turning off the natural gas to 12 nearby properties,” a spokesperson for CenterPoint Energy said in part.
Hinshaw found out about this through word of mouth and social media.
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“Neighbors were running door to door, ‘hey did you hear about this?’ ... but communication from our emergency personnel could have been better,” he said.
Thompson said homes downwind from the intersection where the leak happened were evacuated.
Tyler Idle lives near the scene.
He left his home to see what was going on.
“I hope it gets resolved and I hope we don’t lose our power,” he said.
Power has been restored to homes in the area.