By Victoria Shirley
WEST MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News)- "Oh my goodness! A gas leak! Is it going to explode my house?"
Those were Pat Twilbeck's thoughts when she heard of a possible gasoline leak near her house. She felt frightened and called West Monroe Police. "One lady just calmed my fears and said if you feel like you need to go, go." said Pat Twilbeck, a neighbor that lives near the gas leak.
Twilbeck packed up and left - one of four people who evacuated. But neighbor Cecil Mcmillan didn't see a need to leave. "I didn't smell anything, so I wasn't frightened or worried or anything." said Cecil Mecmillan.
The first report of gasoline fumes came just a few hundred feet from Cecil's home, at a church on Arkansas and North 12th.
Joe Ford works at the church and noticed something wrong. "I got here around 4 and I opened the door and just the smell of gas hit me." Cecil Mcmillan. Ford followed the smell and told the fire department that fumes were coming from the toilets. "At that point they knew that the gas was coming from the sewer." said Joe Ford.
Crews have been working to find the source of the fumes, but state trooper Mark Dennis says they still don't have a firm answer. "We're still working on it. We're working to determine if it is safe. So far the levels that we're checking are steadily decreasing, which is a good sign." said state police trooper Mark Dennis.
Crews spent today flushing the system with water. Soil testing will begin Thursday night in an effort to pinpoint the contamination. "We certainly don't want people to become panicked over the situation, but they do need to be aware." said State Police Mark Dennis.
Police say for your safety, avoid using open flames around sewer lines in west Monroe. And if you smell gasoline to call West Monroe Police at 318-396-2722.
