Crews Work For Hours To Repair Natural Gas Leak Near St. Francis

A natural gas leak had the fire and police departments and Oklahoma Natural Gas crews on scene near Saint Francis Hospital and LaFortune Park for hours on Saturday.

It appears city workers using a backhoe in the area broke the natural gas line around 2 p.m.

Initially crews hoped they'd be able to make a quick plug, but realized that wouldn't work.

"It's a large line and at least medium pressure, so it takes a little while longer to find the right valve cause they don't want to shut down the neighborhood," TFD's Stan May said.

ONG could be in for a even longer night. If the plug isn't found, they'll have to dig down, find it and install a new one. And that could take several more hours.

Officials said since the line was a medium pressure line and the wind was high, which helped the fumes dissipate enough so they didn't have a huge impact on air quality.

As a precaution, two firefighters were stationed inside the hospital to monitor air quality. Four more emergency workers were stationed on each corner monitoring the air there, too. So far crews have picked up fume readings right near the hole, haven't detected the fumes anywhere else.

Fire officials didn't call for any evacuations and don't believe they will have to. However, people in the area may experience a disruption in gas service while crews finish repairing the break.

Traffic was backed up most of the afternoon since the intersection at Yale had to be closed. It is now reopened, but a portion of 61st Street still was shut down at 10:30 p.m. while work continued.