Kirkland Fire, PSE evacutate five homes for gas leak on Finn Hill in Kirkland

The Kirkland Fire Department and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) were forced to evacuate five houses on Finn Hill Wednesday afternoon after a gas leak was found in the 7100 block of Northeast 134th Street.

“There is a two-inch fracture in a gas line,” said Kirkland Fire Department Battalion Chief Bill Hoover.

PSE crews were called to the area after a resident reported the smell of gas in the neighborhood. Crews initially told residents to shelter in place. After going through the homes to see if the leak was inside, they began to search outside and called in Kirkland Fire and the Kirkland Police Department.

Those on the scene could hear the gas leaking into the sewer, as the smell blanketed the neighborhood.

“If the gas ignighted in the sewer it could be really dangerous,” Hoover said.

Luckily, crews spotted gas bubbling up through cracks in the wet asphalt. The PSE crew put down soap on the street to find all the cracks where gas was leaking out.

“Bubbles were everywhere,” Hoover said.

The Kirkland Fire Department asked residents to evacuate their homes while the PSE crew and, initially, a Northshore Utility District crew, worked on finding all the leaks.

“We asked them to leave just out of an abundance of caution,” Hoover said.

The PSE crew was able to find where they thought the fracture was located from the cracks in the asphault and then began digging up the street. A white smokey substance could initially be seen billowing up from the hole.

“It looks like steam but that is straight natural gas,” Hoover said.

Hoover said that natual gas can only ignight in the right concentration.

“It is so thick there it can’t ignight,” Hoover said.

In all, 10 people have been displaced by the incident and Hoover said they expect to be out at the scene until around 3 p.m.