Kittanning Hose Company #1 firefighters and Kittanning Borough Police officers discuss a natural gas leak inside a South Jefferson Street apartment building early this morning. No tenants were injured due to the gas.
Tenants of up to six Kittanning Borough apartments stood alongside the South Jefferson Street sidewalk early this morning as firefighters investigated the smell of natural gas.
The call came in to Armstrong 9-1-1 from a tenant at 217 South Jefferson St. shortly after 12:30AM.
Located across from the Kittanning Hose Company #1 fire station, a group of #1 volunteer firefighters – including Fire Chief Gene Stephens - were first on-scene.
Stephens said firefighters think the natural gas smell leaked from a stove, but were unsure why. All tenants were able to evacuate safely before a portable fan was turned on to air out the two-story yellow-brick apartment complex.
“The gas was shut off,” Stephens said. “Everybody’s OK.”
Kittanning #6 Ambulance emergency technicians did not need to treat anybody on-scene.
Hose Company #4 volunteer firefighters also responded briefly while Hose Company #6 volunteers staged a block out. Firefighters later drove their apparatus down South Jefferson Street after they were released from the call.
Kittanning Borough Police also responded to the dispatch.
Representatives from People’s Natural Gas were to respond to the scene within an hour of the 9-1-1 call. Officials were not available by phone early this morning.
Firefighters cleared the call within an hour of the dispatch, and were not called back to the apartments after they cleared the scene.