NORMAL, IL : Apartment building evacuated after accident, gas leak on Thursday, 27th October, 2016

A pickup truck knocked out a gas meter at The Flats student apartment building in Normal Thursday afternoon, forcing residents to evacuate and tying up traffic southwest of the Illinois State University campus.

A two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Kingsley and Osage streets reported at 12:57 p.m., according to Normal Police, caused the leak, said Matt Swaney, public information officer for the Normal Fire Department.

Authorities said neither driver was seriously injured, and no one was hurt because of the leak. Traffic on Kingsley resumed around 5 p.m.

ISU sophomore Allie Petrick, who was in the building at 611 Osage St. at the time of crash, described the area as "quite a movie scene."

"I was here and actually didn't hear them knocking for like 20 minutes," she said of police officers and firefighters going door to door to alert residents. "When I got out, they already had the yellow tape and everything up."

Dealing with gas leaks is a relatively routine procedure, said NFD Battalion Chief Ed Collins, but this case was more time-consuming because the truck blocked access to the gas service, and the leak affected a building with many residents.

"There was a huge potential for problems here, so we had to take it very slow," he said. "That's why it became such a big event."

Nicor Gas workers used shovels to get to the underground line and then brought in an excavator, Swaney said.

After the gas line was shut off, firefighters used fans to ventilate the building. Residents were allowed to return by 6 p.m., but the odor of natural gas still lingered, firefighters said.

A pet hedgehog was rescued from the fourth floor.

Normal police said the final report with details of the accident should be available Friday. Authorities were checking to see whether cameras recorded the crash.

Source :
Apartment building evacuated after accident, gas leak