Gas leak in Philadelphia forces school evacuations in Logan neighborhood
Streets in the Logan section of North Philadelphia are closed and thousands of people were ordered to evacuate nearby schools and apartments due to a gas main break Thursday morning, the Philadelphia Fire Department said.
Videos from Chopper 3 and CBS News Philadelphia viewers showed a large quantity of smoke coming from what appeared to be a utility line along Olney Avenue near 18th Street and Ogontz Avenue.
Emergency vehicles were blocking traffic around these intersections, according to police:
- 16th & Olney
- 20th & Olney
- Ogontz & Somerville
- Ogontz & Chew
The fire department asked residents to avoid the area.
A spokesperson for Philadelphia Gas Works said that around 8:25 a.m., a private contractor struck a gas main near the 18th and Olney intersection as part of an ongoing PGW pipeline improvement project.
The Philadelphia Fire Department responded to a call for a gas line explosion. When they arrived at West Olney Avenue near Central High School and La Salle University, gas was actively coming out of a 20-inch main, but there were no explosions.
"We have been getting a lot of calls in the area about fumes response, people smelling gas. That's just from this. Obviously, the gas has gotten into the atmosphere. Again, dissipates on its own, but we are still responding to any 911 calls that do come out just to ensure that there aren't any secondary fumes," Philadelphia Fire Capt. Daniel McCarty said. "At this point, PGW does have the situation under control, and they're mitigating it."
Officials say crews evacuated about 3,000 people in the area, counting Central and La Salle students as well as residents of an apartment building. No injuries have been reported.
A spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia said the Central High students were sent to Girls High and Widener Memorial. Students and residents were seen returning later in the morning.
Central High sophomore Peyton Brokenborough says she and her friends were in the school auditorium when they suddenly heard an explosion.
"Honestly, I was just in total shock when I heard it," Brokenborough said. "They told us that we had to shelter in place and didn't really give us much information after that. About five minutes later, they told us we had to evacuate the entire building."
"It was so unexpected," sophomore Anthony Etumau said. "You wake up, and you don't think you're going to be dealing with stuff like this."
At La Salle, four buildings were evacuated and students were sent to safe spots before everyone was allowed to re-enter around 11 a.m., a spokesperson said. The university had canceled classes until noon.
"We were practicing on the turf, and that's when we saw the big cloud. I was like, 'What is everyone looking at?' I turned around, and it was just a big, brown cloud in the sky, Aniyah Bishop, a sophomore lacrosse player at La Salle University, said. "And then the smoke started coming toward us. Everyone started running. They were coughing and everything."
A PGW spokesperson said that as of 10:30 a.m., service was only shut off for Regency Village apartments, located at the corner of Ogontz and Olney avenues. Around 200 residents were also evacuated.
"Well, I heard a boom. I looked out my bedroom window, and I just saw dark smoke," Ursula Jackson, a resident in the apartment building, said. "Then somebody knocked on my door saying, 'Run get out the building, it's a gas leakage.'"
Jackson says she has power but still no gas, which she needs to cook and heat the unit.
"You know what, I'm not really worried about that because it's not freezing cold," Jackson said. "The weather is beautiful, and I can make it through the night."
PGW crews are continuing to restore gas service in the area and hope to have service restored by Friday morning.
