South Milwaukee Blog

Six people were evacuated from their homes on Wednesday after the construction crew on the Nicholson/Pennsylvania widening project apparently struck a gas main and caused a leak.

Everyone was back in their homes in the 200 block of Nicholson by Wednesday afternoon.

Here is the email I got from Acting South Milwaukee Fire Chief Joe Knitter …

Earlier this afternoon, the Oak Creek Fire Department received a call for a natural gas main that was struck by the construction crew working on the Nicholson / Pennsylvania Avenue project, causing a leak that was releasing into the air.  The assumption was that the leak was on the Oak Creek side of the project and therefore, OCFD received the call.  Once they arrived on the scene, the OCFD Battalion Chief assessed the scene and determined that the main that was struck was actually in front of 215/217 Nicholson Avenue, on the South Milwaukee side of the project.  The OCFD Battalion Chief called me from the scene, apprised me of the situation, and stated that they would not require any assistance as they had sufficient resources on the scene.  They did temporarily evacuate 6 people from the residences directly north of the leak until WE Energies arrived on the scene and stopped the leak.  The Battalion Chief called again a short while later to provide an update and reported that WE Energies had entered the excavation, stopped the leak, and the residents were allowed back into their dwelling.