Gas leak forces evacuation of Olympia neighborhood Friday
About 20 residents had to evacuate their homes when an excavator cut a natural-gas line in an Olympia housing development Friday afternoon, according to the Olympia Fire Department.
The excavator was doing construction work in a housing development that’s partially occupied when it severed a 2-inch natural-gas line behind a home on the 2200 block of Park View Street Northeast about 12:30 p.m., Battalion Chief Dave Haag told The Olympian.
Olympia Fire Department evacuated homes within a 300-foot radius of the leak, Haag said, which included about 20 occupied homes holding about 20 people. The department monitored the amount of natural gas in the air until Puget Sound Energy was able to shut down that section of the line about an hour later.
Haag said gas in the air never reached dangerous levels, and that evacuated residents were able to immediately return home once the line was shut down.
The department responded with two engines, one ladder truck, and a battalion unit, according to Haag.
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