Sheldon, Iowa — Sheldon emergency responders were called to what was reported to be a gas leak in eastern Sheldon on Thursday.
The reported leak was in the area of the 300 block of Country Club Road and was reported by utility workers that believe they struck the line just before 2:45 p.m. Gas could reportedly be smelled in the area.
According to Assistant Sheldon Fire Chief Brad Hindt, the utility contractor was digging underground for a communications line with a directional boring machine when they hit a residential gas service line. He says the gas company, MidAmerican Energy got there shortly after firefighters arrived. He says they had to locate the line, and they were able to cap it for now, but will have to replace the service line.
Hindt tells us they blocked Country Club Road from Highway 18 to 6th Street for between a half an hour and an hour. He says they also would have evacuated a couple of houses, but they found no one home in those houses, so no one was evacuated.
Sheldon emergency responders were back in service as of 3:35 p.m. Hindt says the Sheldon Police Department and O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office assisted them with the response to the situation.
