Town Shores residents had to evacuate their homes Monday afternoon when a contractor broke the regulator off a natural gas meter at the Avalon building.
While pressure washing the Avalon building, a contractor lowered a crane onto the building’s gas meter, breaking off the regulator and causing a gas leak.
Gulfport firefighters – as well as South Pasadena and St. Petersburg firefighters – responded to a 911 call about the gas leak.
“There was a large amount of gas coming out when the fire department arrived, making a very large sound,” fire chief Jim Marenkovic told the Gabber. Firefighters closed several Town Shores streets and started evacuating the Barclay and the Avalon buildings; by the time they evacuated roughly 20 residents, firefighters had the leak under control and were able to stop the evacuation and allow residents to return to their home. and closed nearby Town Shores streets, shut off the gas, and allowed the residents to return to their homes within 30 minutes.
Some residents required assistance evacuating, but “they had no medical problems” resulting from the gas leak, Chief Marenkovic said.
Tampa Electric (TECO) was on site and working on fixing the broken regulator Monday afternoon. According to Chief Marenkovic, Avalon residents will be without gas until TECO fixes the regulator.
Cherie Jacobs, a spokeswoman for Peoples Gas (TECO) told the Gabber that workers should have natural gas service restored Monday night, "unless they run into an issue."
Jacobs said the 41 Avalon condominium residents had gas service restored by 8 p.m. Monday night.
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