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Street closed after workers slice into propane gas line
By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
SPRING HILL -- Authorities shut down a portion of Spring Hill Drive and ordered residents to stay inside their homes early Thursday after workers sliced through a propane gas line near Treehaven Drive. No one was injured. About 24 Spring Hill firefighters and Hernando County sheriff's deputies arrived about 9 a.m. to block the road, monitor the air and talk to concerned residents. The leak was sealed in about an hour. "It was nice that an incident like this could be contained in such a timely fashion," said Chief J.J. Morrison of the Spring Hill Fire Rescue District. Workers were burying fiber optic cable along Spring Hill Drive as part of a project to link all traffic lights across Hernando County. Funded by the state, the new system will allow county workers to synchronize traffic signals from a central office in Brooksville, said Charles Mixson, county public works director. After a worker sliced through the pipe, firefighters used a handheld hazardous gas detector to monitor the air and see whether an evacuation was necessary, Morrison said. The levels of gas were safe, partly because of strong winds, he said. "If the wind conditions were not what it was, if the humidity was up and if the opening were larger, we probably would have been forced to evacuate and bring in additional monitors," Morrison said. Sheriff's deputies reopened the four lanes of traffic on Spring Hill Drive about 10 a.m. -- Jamie Jones can be reached at 754-6114. Send e-mail to jjones@sptimes.com.
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From today's Hernando Times |
