Gas leaks causes CMED Saginaw evacuation, reentry time still undetermined
A gas leak at the corner of North Harrison Street and Houghton Avenue in Saginaw caused the Saginaw Fire Department to evacuate two Covenant Health Care buildings. One of the buildings houses multiple Central Michigan University College of Medicine clinics.
Jim Knight, director of marketing and communications for CMED, said officials don't know when they will be able to return to the busy building.
"Shortly after 9 a.m., we canceled all the remaining appointments and sent everybody home," Knight said. "Consumers (Energy) is still working on the line. They have not shut down the leak yet. There's quite a bit shut down there."
The break, caused by a third party contractor installing a sign for the hospital, is still being fixed. Debra Dodd, a public information director for Consumers Energy, said crews have to move an electric line before they can get to the broken main that's leaking gas.
"It's taking a little longer than we thought it would," she said. "Once we get the flow of gas shut off, there shouldn't be a problem (to return to the evacuated buildings.)"
Knight said there are a variety of clinics that run out of the office located at 1000 Houghton Avenue, including internal medicine, obstetrician and gynecology and pediatrics.
"Those are the clinics that we have closed for today," he said.
It is still unclear when the line will be fixed. However, Dodd said they hope to have it repaired sometime this afternoon.
"Even thought this was a big contractor that caused this, this could happen to anyone," she said.
Dodd encourages everyone to call Consumers Energy's Miss Digg service at ext. 811 before digging at all. This includes digging for planting trees, bushes, gardens and other projects.
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