Car crashes into gas meter, causing leak, evacuations in Castle Shannon

CASTLE SHANNON, Pa. — Residents and business owners can return to their homes after fire crews safely secured a space where a driver lost control and crashed into a gas meter in Castle Shannon Friday morning.

They were called to Grove Road at Library Road for a major gas leak coming from a structure around 10:30 a.m.

“It’s very scary for the first responders. I know they’re doing everything they can,” said Abby Branik of Dormont.

Fire officials confirm an elderly driver who just left Sunoco on Library Road— lost control of his minivan and crashed into a building across the street.

When he slammed into the building which houses an office—he hit a gas meter.

“It’s a dangerous situation. That building could go… all we needed was a spark,” said Bill Reffner, Safety Officer 1 Castle Shannon Fire.

About an hour into processing the scene— fire officials discovered the man had 15 gallon containers full of gas in his trunk.

Taking no chances—they evacuated nearby homes and several surrounding businesses.

“We had extremely high readings at the door where we could get testing, but there was a good chance that building could have exploded at any time,” said Reffner.

Firefighters from Castle Shannon, White Hall and Mount Lebanon worked directly with Duquesne Light and Columbia gas to secure the area, shut off the gas and repair the break.

The road re-opened to all thru traffic around 2:30 p.m.

“A good ending to a very, very possible bad situation,” said Reffner.

The elderly gentleman who crashed into the gas meter is okay, and no one was injured in the incident.

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