NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Residents of an Antioch apartment complex were pushed out of their homes early Saturday after Nashville firefighters found dangerous readings of natural gas and carbon monoxide that officials think may be seeping up from the ground near a construction site.
The Nashville Fire Department was called to 215 Ben Hill Drive at about 1:20 a.m. for a carbon monoxide alarm in a unit in Building H. Crews found high gas levels across that building and ordered all 36 units out. Four of five nearby townhome buildings also tested high, and many of those neighbors left on their own, putting the total at 53 units. Nobody was hurt.
Spire, the natural gas utility, checked the site and ruled out a leak from a gas line. Fire officials, after talking with a geologist, believe digging or blasting at a construction site uphill from the complex may have disturbed a pocket of methane underground. Because the gas did not come from a utility line, it lacks the additive that gives household gas its rotten-egg smell, so residents could not detect it.
By Saturday afternoon the department said Building H was still unsafe and would not be cleared that day. Responsibility for securing the building passed to property management, and fire crews said they would keep checking conditions and work with the construction company on a safe plan before digging resumes. Earlier, crews had asked the builder to cut a trench to help vent the gas.
Fire officials said clearing the gas could take up to three days, so displaced residents may need somewhere else to stay through the weekend.
Section: More Nashville TN crime news
Filed under: Nashville TN Public Safety News
