MOBILE, Ala. — A ruptured two-inch gas main sent about 20 households out of their homes in Mobile’s Crichton area Sunday, closed several streets for hours and drew a response from both Mobile Police and Mobile Fire-Rescue before crews were able to shut the line down.
By Sunday evening, police said residents could return and roads in the area were reopening. No one was hurt.
How It Unfolded
The leak was reported on a two-inch gas main at about 11:45 a.m. Sunday. An official at the scene said roughly 20 homes were evacuated in a neighborhood near Bay Shore Avenue.
The leak itself was not subtle. At the scene, the hiss of escaping gas was audible and the odor was noticeable well beyond the immediate break. Mobile Police cruisers blocked roads leading into the neighborhood while officials waited on the gas company to shut off the main.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m., police issued a public notice that several streets had been closed.
Police described it as a “major” leak, locating it in the 300 block of Burton Avenue. Officers continued asking residents in the immediate area to leave their homes if they could do so safely until an all clear was issued.
That all clear came later in the day.
Why a Two-Inch Main Is Treated Seriously
A two-inch line is a distribution main, not a service line to a single house. It carries gas to a group of customers, which means a break releases substantially more volume than a leak at an individual meter and continues releasing it until the line is isolated upstream.
That is the reason for the waiting. Police and fire crews can secure a perimeter and move people out, but neither agency can stop the flow. Only the utility can operate the valves that isolate a segment of main, and locating and closing those valves takes time.
The evacuation radius follows from the same logic. Natural gas is lighter than air and disperses upward outdoors, but it accumulates in enclosed spaces — crawlspaces, basements, garages and interior rooms. Between the lower and upper explosive limits, it will ignite from a spark as ordinary as a light switch, a doorbell or a vehicle starter.
The odor that made the leak obvious is added deliberately. Natural gas is colorless and odorless in its natural state; utilities inject mercaptan, a sulfur compound, specifically so that leaks announce themselves at concentrations far below dangerous levels.
Near a Construction Site
It is not clear what caused the break. An official said it happened near where a home was under construction, but no one was at the site when responders arrived.
Excavation damage is the most common cause of gas distribution line breaks nationally, which is why “call before you dig” line-locating requirements exist in every state. Whether that is what occurred here has not been established, and no cause has been announced.
What Residents Should Do
The standing guidance for anyone who smells gas inside a structure is consistent across utilities and fire agencies: leave immediately, do not operate light switches or appliances, do not start a vehicle in an attached garage, and do not use a phone until well clear of the building. Call the gas utility’s emergency line or 911 from a safe distance.
The instinct to investigate the source first is the dangerous one. Ventilating a room by opening windows is secondary to getting out of it.
Resolved
There were no reports of injuries at any point during the response, and no report of a designated shelter location for evacuated residents — consistent with an incident resolved within hours rather than one requiring overnight displacement.
Mobile Police confirmed Sunday that residents could return home and that roads in the area were reopening.