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Overland Park gas leak leads to over a dozen home evacuations

Posted at 12:16 PM, Feb 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-20 19:25:24-05

Over a dozen residents were evacuated on Monday during a gas leak reported near 147th Place & Outlook.

Investigators say the first call of the gas leak came in around 11 a.m., when a maintenance worker struck a gas line while doing Google Fiber maintenance work.

As a result of the gas leak, 17 residents had to be evacuated from eight homes in the area.

"I went to the front door and the firefighter was standing at the front door and said we have to evacuate immediately," explained Mary Wilson, whose family lives next door to where the gas leak occurred. "I probably freaked out the most. What do I grab? Who do I grab? How quick do we leave?" 

The evacuation forced the Wilsons to make quick decisions on what to take and where to go.

After getting his daughter from her room and grabbing the family dog, Mary's husband, Jeff, said his family swiftly escaped.

"You think you're prepared on what you want to grab and then you run out of time," he said. "The most important thing is just to get out."

After being told by fire crews to leave their car behind, the Wilsons walked to a nearby restaurant to pass the time.

Later on Monday, an investigator told 41 Action News that the gas leak came as a result of work being done on Google Fiber lines.

Jason Rhodes of the Overland Park Fire Department said gas leaks can be common when underground maintenance work is done by broadband and cable companies.

"These gas leaks happen frequently," he said. "There's a lot under the ground here and even though they try and locate and mark things as well as they can, sometimes this happens."

Holes that were several feet deep, small yard flags, and construction lines could be seen around the neighborhood on Monday.

Several neighbors told 41 Action News that maintenance work had been going on recently.

"They just started working the neighborhood maybe eight to 10 days ago," said Randy Schartz, who lives a few homes down from the scene of the gas leak. "They do have quite a few people out working on getting it installed. They seem to be moving through the neighborhood quickly."

By early Monday afternoon, the gas leak was stopped.

Crews reported no injuries as a result of the incident.

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