Wanda English Burnett
Editor

Last Thursday, August 19 Osgood utility crews responded to a call of a gas leak at 132 East Eckert Street just before noon.

According to information from Steve Wilhoit, street superintendent for the town, the homeowner had cut the plastic service line in half. He said he was replacing a water line when the incident occurred.

Wilhoit noted that the homeowner couldn’t produce a line locate ticket number, and therefore was in violation of the state law that requires you to call 811 before you begin any digging project.

“There are stiff fines that could be imposed,” Wilhoit told the Osgood Journal. He noted that he is required to report the incident to state authorities.

Wilhoit said gas blew from the cut pipes for over an hour last Thursday as crews worked to repair the damage. Also assisting the town utility department was the Osgood and Versailles fire departments.

“People don’t realize what it takes to repair the lines,” Wilhoit said. Worse yet, there could have been a massive explosion due to the gas leakage.

“The homeowner thought he knew where the utilities were,” Wilhoit noted. Which is often the case. It is the law that you call before digging anything. It’s simple to do. Just call 811 and they will mark the lines within a 48-hour period. Then you can dig safely.

Wilhoit also noted that last week his department responded to a call of a gas smell around the Jac-Cen-Del School area. The town responded to find that a mowing crew from that state had ran over a gas farm tap.

A passerby smelled the gas and called 911, according to Wilhoit. He said the leak was spewing gas about 110 pounds straight up in the air when his crews arrived. “We were thankful that someone took the time to call about the gas smell,” he noted, encouraging community participation to keep everyone safe.