At approximately 1233 hours (12:33 pm), Station 5 was alerted to the 180 block of Lancaster Ave at the Frazer Diner for a reported gas leak outside. Within minutes, Engine 5-2 and 5-5 went responding. The initial 9-1-1 call indicated that the gas meter outside of the diner seemed to be leaking.

East Whiteland firefighters arrived on location and discovered that there was an active gas leak before the meter at the gas line from the street main to the diner. Deputy 5 (C. Strauss) established "Frazer Diner Command" and utility crews were requested to the scene while the diner was evacuated. Firefighters secured power to the building and cleared the area to ensure that no sources of ignition were present during the leak, and stood by until utility crews could dig the main and crimp the line. Firefighters also utilized positive pressure fans to pressurize the structure and to help prevent gasses from building up inside.

Once utility crews secured the gas main and stopped the leak, firefighters ventilated the structure to ensure that there were no accumulations of gas and checked the diner and surrounding areas with gas meters to ensure safety.

During the incident, East Whiteland Fire Police closed one westbound lane of Rt. 30/Lancaster Ave between Deerfield and Malin roads.

There were no injuries during the duration of this incident.

The fire company was made available by 1441 hours (2:41 pm).

Thank you to PECO for all their help during this incident, and for Station 4 (Malvern Fire Co) for standing by on their station covering our local during this incident.

Pictures by Michael Schon.
News story on 6ABC: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=9493913