On Friday afternoon the Hastings fire department was notified of a natural gas leak at city hall. According to the report provided by Chief Mike Schutt, a meter on the south side of the building, for an unknown reason, began releasing natural gas on the discharge vent side of the regulator. The system is designed to do this for a sudden pressure difference. However, this time it continued to release causing Natural gas to permeate into the basement and main levels of the building.
Contractors working around the building, immediately notified the front desk at city hall who did an entire building evacuation. Approximately 20 people were in the building when the event occurred. Responders then closed a valve on the meter which stopped the flow of natural gas and ventilated the building until all areas were clear and safe to return.CenterPoint Energy responded later that afternoon to reset the meter and repair the issue.
