Residents living in southwest Atlanta were greeted with a massive fire burning on Sylvan Road this morning thanks to a broken natural gas line. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the fire was caused by a contractor who was working on a four-inch gas line and damaged it, resulting in a fire that burned up his tractor. The fire then spread and surrounded a nearby Chevron gas station.
The fire started about 10:45 a.m. in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood and managed to set parts of the road and sidewalks on fire as well. After firefighters responded, it took until about 12:05 p.m. for the gas line to be shut off and another 15 minutes to get most of the flames extinguished. Thankfully, the gas station never caught fire.
“Atlanta Gas Light crews are on the scene working with first responders to safely secure the area. Once the area is safe, Atlanta Gas Light will work to make repairs. There are no outages for customers at this time and no injuries have been reported,” the company said in a statement.
An Atlanta Gas Light spokesperson told the AJC that the contractor wasn’t part of the company and added, “The flames got pretty big, causing things around the Chevron to catch on fire.”
Due to the fire, multiple businesses reportedly had to be evacuated, including a nearby daycare. The good news is, no injuries have been reported. One car did catch on fire, but the people who were inside were reportedly able to escape unharmed. That had to be terrifying, but at least it sounds like they’re OK.
This incident comes not long after an entire house exploded after someone drove a stolen car into a house, causing a gas leak. So if you needed yet another reminder that natural gas can be incredibly dangerous, here you go. We’re just happy that no one was hurt.