MASON CITY -Emergency responders dealt with a potentially explosive situation Sunday on a Mason City street.
Shortly before 11:00 AM Sunday morning, the Mason City Police and Fire Departments were called to the 100 block of South Pierce Avenue for a gas leak with flames being reported at the scene.
Some residents of the West View Apartments were asked to evacuate their homes for safety reasons. The east and south side apartment tenants were asked to clear the area.
First Street NW to Second Street SW were all barricaded to through traffic. All side roads in between were being watched and warned.
Smoke could be seen coming from the hole that was dug by the city on Pierce and West State. Alliant Energy was at the location with the firefighters backing them, ready with the hoses.
An officer at the scene said around 11:20 AM, “I believe they are about to get it put out.”
Emergency crews were still on the scene at noon.
According to a source who lives in the Westview Apartments, “earlier today a man on a bike noticed some white smoke coming from a hole that the city is working on on Pierce Avenue and 1st Street right by the [Greek] church.” As of 9:30 PM, “there are 15 alliant service trucks and they have turned off the gas to the Westview Apartments. They are using the church to figure out a plan and look at maps. They say they don’t know anything. And no neighbors knew they were shutting off the gas.”
As of midnight, the source confirmed that “Yes, the gas is still turned off. By 10am we should have an Alliant energy worker knock on our doors to light the pilot in each apartment. But, outside you can smell the gas.”
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