‘We could hear it hissing from a good ways away,’ fire department says of Whatcom gas leak
A tractor that was clearing brush hit a high-pressure meter set, causing a “large natural gas leak” Tuesday morning east of Everson, forcing the closure of roads in the area and the Great Western Lumber Company to evacuate.
Whatcom County Fire District 1 crews were called to the 3600 block of South Pass Road for an odor investigation at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the PulsePoint app.
“We never saw the leak, but we could hear it hissing from a good ways away,” Whatcom County Fire District 1 Chief Rachel Carlson told The Bellingham Herald.
The Everson Police Department reported in a Facebook post made at 9:22 a.m. that it had closed a portion of South Pass Road, and Carlson said Goodwin Road also was closed in the area.
“Fire personnel, law enforcement and Cascade Natural Gas are on scene in the 3600 block of South Pass Road for a large natural gas leak,” a video posted to the department’s Facebook shortly before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13. “
“This stretch of road from Goodwin (Road) to Oat Coles (Road) is currently closed and detours are being set at Goodwin and Oat Coles. It is an unknown ETA for the repair of the gas line.”
Fire units were able to clear the scene and roads in the area were reopened shortly before 11 a.m., Carlson told The Herald, adding that Great Western Lumber employees were also allowed to return.
No injuries or illness were reported from the incident, Carlson said, nor any damage, other than the gas line itself.
The gas leak, which only impacted the lumber yard, Cascade Natural Gas spokesperson Mark Hanson told The Herald in an email, occurred after a tractor or mower that was clearing brush hit a high-pressure meter set.
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 10:50 AM.
