Construction work caused gas leak near Sugar House Park

SALT LAKE CITY — Construction work caused the gas leak that occurred around 1 p.m. near Sugar House Park, said Capt. Chad Jepperson of the Salt Lake City Fire Department.

“This was due to construction work, but I'm not sure exactly what happened,” he said. “Heavy machinery is operating on the road.”

Living in this area can be a nightmare because of the seemingly constant construction work, says Taylor Treuhaft.

“I know they're doing this to improve the streets and everything that's here,” she said. “I know it's just to improve the neighborhood and the city, but it's frustrating because all the construction that's going on has consequences.”

Crews were overwhelmed because firefighters were also dealing with another, unrelated gas leak on State Street, Captain Jepperson said.

“When the incident started, we had three fire engines, a truck and a hazmat truck available. Then we had to rely on the West Valley hazmat truck to come to our aid because the other gas leak occurred at the same time,” he said.

This crazy coincidence made for a long day for the crews, Jepperson said.

“Salt Lake City is very well prepared to deal with this kind of thing,” he said. “We have a number of firefighters whose specialty is this, and we have a lot of units that are very close, and we also have really good agreements with our neighbors, and that showed today how we work together.”