COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia's Elmwood neighborhood residents say it's been a stressful month after construction crews caused six gas line breaks in 30 days.
John Wilkinson, a member of the Elmwood neighborhood, describes the last month of construction along his street.
"It escalated pretty rapidly," Wilkinson said.
In October, the fiber optics company Lumos began installing fiber optic cables in the area. Wilkinson says it wasn't long before he started hearing serious concerns from neighbors.
"We had neighbors who had to evacuate their homes, and couldn't return to their homes until the gas cleared and the fire department came out," Wilkinson said. "Obviously, very troubling from a safety perspective."
According to Columbia-Richland Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins, six gas leaks were reported in the area over the past 30 days.
"The community started reaching out, and just said, 'Hey, we keep smelling gas, and we have these gas lines being burst.'" Jenkins said. "Gas is a hazardous material, and gas can catch on fire; it can explode, and any little spark can ignite it. "
Lumos Chief Networking Officer David Smith said the gas lines were hit when crews began a process known as 'boring' to install the fiber optics.
"A number of things there that's caused those issues, it really focuses around us using those locates, going about three to five feet off of those, and we still hit some of the gas lines that's there," Smith said. "So, what we refer to those as mismarked gas lines. It's another thing to hit gas lines and that's something we don't take lightly at all."
Smith and Jenkins said a subcontracting crew was responsible for the gas line hits. That crew came from the company Butler America. News19 contacted them for comment but did not hear back. Smith said that the crew is no longer working on the Elmwood project.
"We do have a zero-tolerance policy process in place. When doing a review of a hit or an incident and the crew is at fault, that crew is no longer allowed to perform the workforce at that time," Smith said.
According to Jenkins, the fire department had crews checking the roads on Friday.
"As they were out there today, there were not any detectable leaks that we found," Jenkins said.
Wilkinson said he's happy to know the situation is being taken care of and hopes the leaks won't happen again.
"We know it'll be a good thing," Wilkinson said. "We just hope that they can do it. If they're able to resume in a safe and professional way."
Smith encouraged residents of Columbia to visit their website for more information on the project and report any concerns.