Residents on and about Friendship Street in New Castle, Pennsylvania, were being evacuated following a crash that caused a “large natural gas leak.”
According to a public safety alert from the New Castle Police Department at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11, emergency crews were called to the area of Friendship Street for reports of a car crash and large natural gas leak.
A dispatcher told 21 News that residents in a two- to three-block radius were being evacuated, but have already started to be returned home.
The public safety alert urged residents and motorists to use an alternative route while emergency crews worked to clear the scene and address the leak.
Responders on scene tell 21 News that the leak started from a crash. A driver in the parking lot of a nursing home on Friendship Street allegedly accelerated on the gas pedal, striking a pressure valve on a gas line.
The vehicle also allegedly crashed into the building.
No injuries are being reported in the incident, but residents in the nursing home were evacuated for a time.
Crews have fixed the pressure valve and no permanent damage was done.
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