A Subway restaurant and several upper-floor apartments on Howe Avenue had to be evacuated after dangerously high natural gas readings were noticed in the basement of 468 Howe Ave. Friday.
No injuries were reported.
A crew from Yankee Gas — now known as Eversource — was on the scene as of 2:35 p.m. investigating.
The cause of the problem wasn’t known Friday afternoon, according to Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross.
“Still under investigation,” Gross said.
The gas odor problems were first reported about 11 a.m., when a woman stopped by the Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Co. on Coram Avenue and said there was a strong odor in the area.
The Echo Hose building is behind Subway, essentially.
A crew from Eversource responded, Gross said.
Story continues after the photo gallery. Photos by Krystina Morgan.
Then, at about 12:30 p.m., Shelton volunteer firefighter Tom DeMarco was in Cigarello Cigars when he smelled a strong odor of natural gas.
“Firefighters were dispatched to check it out. Upon investigation, they found high readings under the Subway,” said Shelton Fire Department Chief Fran Jones.
The natural gas levels in the Subway basement were as high as 60 percent of what firefighters call “the lower explosive limit.”
That’s high, firefighters said. Anything over 10 percent triggers an evacuation, plus an order to cut power to the building.
Both those things happened Friday. About six to seven people were in apartments above the Subway and had to leave, Jones said.
Subway worker Himesh Patel had just made a foot-long meatball sandwich when some firefighters walked in.
“A couple of firefighters came in and said they were smelling gas,” Patel said. “They went into the basement, the Yankee Gas people came, they had detectors that were beeping. About 10 minutes later they said everyone needed to get out.”
Patel said another Subway employee had smelled natural gas earlier in the day, but Patel said his nose didn’t detect it.
“That was around 9 or 10 in the morning,” he said.
As of 2 p.m., southbound traffic on Howe Avenue was being diverted between White and Bridge streets.
