A gas leak prompted an evacuation of downtown Hamburg for roughly two and a half hours Sunday night.
At approximately 7:50 p.m. Glen Finnel, owner of the Hamburg Antique Mall, notified the Fremont County Sheriff’s office that he had a strong odor of gas inside his building and had called the Black Hills Energy Company to come and check the leak.
Finnel told investigators the odor was strong enough that when he opened the door, it made his eyes water.
Hamburg Fire and Rescue was notified to respond for safety and to help with traffic control of the area. When the Black Hills service tech arrived and assessed the situation, he advised the evacuation of the surrounding area for one block adjacent to the buildings that were affected. Those buildings were: the Harvest Restaurant, Hamburg Antique Mall and the Hamburg Reporter office.
The service tech called for assistance and reportedly told Hamburg Fire Chief Dan Strum he detected high levels of gas inside the antique mall and lesser amounts in the newspaper office. He also detected gas seeping from the ground in the back of the building in the area of the gas meters.
The gas was thought to be leaking underground and entering the buildings through the foundations. A digging crew was requested to find the underground leak at the back of the buildings. The buildings were opened up to ventilate them and Hamburg’s city crew brought in a ventilation fan to assist with clearing the buildings.
The Hamburg Reporter will include an update to this story.
