The New Albany Fire Department was called to IU Southeast because a gas line was hit behind the Koetter Softball Sports Complex.
On Oct. 20, a subcontractor working for Insight Communications was running fibers on the telephone poles and drilling an anchor for each pole where the lines were placed.
Around 5:30 p.m., the anchors were being drilled 5 feet in the ground when a subcontractor realized they hit a 2-inch gas line.
“I have been doing this 27 years, and this is the first time it’s ever happened to me,” Troy Laxton, subcontractor for Insight Communications, said.
Laxton said his crew was almost finished for the day when they heard a hit and smelled natural gas.
“We were setting a stress anchor for the guide wire on the pole when we hit a gas line,” Laxton said. “The anchors are 5-foot anchors, and, right about the time it went all the way down, it hit the gas line.”
Laxton said he and his crew were concerned about the gas smell and called 911.
“We saw the sports complex here and people coming in, and we were scared that somebody might get hurt if there were to be an explosion,” Laxton said.
Brian Gadd, New Albany Fire Department battalion chief, said the fire department was taking proper precaution and not underestimating the potential for the worst.
“We are in standby mode, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” Gadd said. “We have been getting some pretty high readings back there. We have a pretty good-sized gas leak right now.”
Gadd said they sent someone to IU Southeast to monitor gas readings on the campus. No evacuation was necessary on campus or at the Koetter Sports Complexes.
Jim Wolfe, director of the Physical Plant, said the fire department checked the warehouse buildings owned by IU Southeast that are used for storage in order to take proper precaution.
“They asked us to get our keys and allow them to go into the buildings to see if everything was OK,” Wolfe said.
Shortly after the New Albany Fire Department arrived, Vectren, the company that provides gas service to IU Southeast, was called in.
“When I was there, Vectren was there making the lines and sensing where the leak was and trying to find the shut-off valve,” Wolfe said.
The crews worked on the gas line for more than three hours to make sure the problem was solved.
“They were there for quite a while because you have to make repairs on a gas line because you can’t turn it back on,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said Vectren and the fire department repaired the gas line and avoided serious problems.
“When I went back the next morning [Oct. 21], they had dug down, repaired the pipe and put it all back together,” Wolfe said. “Everything is back in operational shape now.”
By NIKOLETTE
LANGDON
Staff
nlangdon@umail.iu.edu
