A gas leak closed off a portion of North State Street near West Avenue last Tuesday, Oct. 10.
At the time members of the Big Rapids Department of Public Safety, including the police and fire departments, closed the street down to any incoming or outgoing traffic.
Residents of Big Rapids living along North State Street reported smelling gas coming from somewhere along the street.
Residents called emergency services who immediately responded to the situation with representatives from members of the DTE Big Rapids branch. First responders immediately responded to the situation by alerting residents that there was a gas leak and sending out an alert to the community that North State Street that there was a gas leak and the roads would be closing.
After the alert was sent out, members of the Big Rapids Fire Department worked with members of the DTE Big Rapids branch worked together to locate the source of the leak.
As soon as the source of the leak was found the gas company shut off the valve so that the gas company could begin to fix the broken gas valve. After the DTE workers got the leak under control the Big Rapids Fire Department opened back up N. State St. and updated the department’s Facebook page with an all clear and that it was okay for traffic to continue along North State Street.
While students and residents might be feeling worried about the gas leak, members of the township were quick to assure the public that the issue had been resolved.
“It was not that serious,” Bill Stanek of the Big Rapids township office said. “We had to close off the roads so that the gas company could do its job.”
While the situation was not that serious, some students that were in the area were unsure of what was happening at the time.
“It was really weird seeing all the emergency responders out there,” social work sophomore Sydney Hill said. “I was told that there was a gas leak, and that the road was closed off but there wasn’t a lot more information being told.”
Hill described how there were police cars and fire trucks in the area but she had to get to class. Hill ended up going to class for a couple of hours and when she left to go home, Hill reported that the roads had opened back up.
In the end, the area was closed to outgoing and incoming traffic because members of the public recorded smelling a gas leak in the area. Members of the DTE Big Rapids branch along with first responders from Big Rapids Township responded to a gas leak in the area surrounding West Avenue.
North State Street was shut down for a couple of hours so that the first responders could find the source of the leak and repair the damage. It re-opened to traffic within a couple of hours.
Members of the DTE Big Rapids branch and representatives from the Big Rapids Public Safety office could not be reached for a comment at this time.