Gas Leak Fixed, Evacuees Return Home

Updated: 1:19 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011

The gas leak that forced people from their homes along Darby Road has been fixed by PECO, Haverford Township Fire Marshal Jim Marino said early Wednesday morning.

The leak occurred when an old gas main was broken during the installation of a new gas main on Darby Road at the intersection of East Clearfield Road at 9:18 p.m., Haverford Township police and Marino told the Haverford-Havertown Patch.

Police evacuated seven homes along Darby Road, with the road being closed from Orchard and East Clearfield roads.

At one point Patch observed the gas rising from the area of the leak.

PECO was called in to shut the gas off and to make repairs, as the Oakmont Fire Co. and the Haverford Township Paramedics were on hand.

By 12:07 a.m., Wednesday, Marino told Patch at the scene that PECO was able to fix the problem. At that point, the firefighters left the scene.

While a few residents along the 2000 block of Darby Road told Patch they were concern of the billowing gas that could be seen from five houses away, Marino said that it is safest when the gas goes into the air.

"The (PECO) guys working in the hole (in the road) are the most at risk if anything goes off," Marino explained, saying that a confined space where the gas could not escape is dangerous.