Fort Worth police, fire called to gas main rupture near hotel explosion site

Gas leak forces evacuations in Downtown Fort Worth

The Fort Worth Fire Department said fire crews arrived on scene and found that construction crews were working on a gas main that had ruptured.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth police, fire, and Atmos Energy were called to investigate a gas leak in the area of 7th and Commerce Streets on Friday.

The investigation was not far from the site of the explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel earlier this month.

"Right after 12:30 p.m., we got dispatched out here to a vapor gas leak," said Craig Trojacek, the public information officer for the Fort Worth Fire Department. "So with everything that's been going on here in downtown in the last few weeks, we responded like we always do."

The Fort Worth Fire Department said fire crews arrived on scene and found that construction crews were working on a gas main that had ruptured.

"This was a pre-planned replacement of pipe by Atmos that was completely separate from anything that took place last week," Trojacek said. "Crews were working on it when we arrived, but because there was a leak, there was a rupture in that line."

The gas has since been shut off.

The Fort Worth Fire Department said it monitored the air quality inside surrounding businesses and found no issues.

Some businesses in the area self-evacuated.

"We are back down in the heart of Fort Worth. It means a lot of people are worried, and rightfully so," Trojacek said.

The department said there is no immediate threat to the area at this time.

Strong winds helped the gas smell dissipate.

Crews called to gas main rupture near hotel explosion site

Fort Worth police, fire, and Atmos Energy were called to investigate a gas leak not far from the area of the explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel earlier this month.

"Texans, we don't like the cold weather, but in instances like this, we're glad the fronts moved in, bringing that wind and kinda helped clear out some issues that we may have had to deal with a different way," said Trojacek.

The location of the rupture was less than half a mile away from the site of last week's hotel explosion, but fire officials said the two are not related in any way.

Dinner plans in Fort Worth were derailed Friday evening due to the gas leak downtown.

Families showed up, only to be turned away from the restaurants near the leak.

"My wife is at the Mary Kay convention and I’m here with her," scott evans said. "I was going to do Del Frisco’s, but it’s closed."

Sandman Hotel Explosion

911 calls shed light on terror following blast

Newly released 911 calls are shedding new light on the terror in the moments after an explosion at the Sandman Hotel in Fort Worth earlier this month.

The explosion at the Sandman on Jan. 8 injured 21 people, including one woman who is still recovering in the burn unit of Parkland Health in Dallas.

The exact cause of the blast is still under investigation.

Atmos Energy said there was "no indication" its system was involved in the blast.

Fort Worth Fire says they "remain confident" that natural gas was involved in the explosion, but were continuing to investigate the inside of the structure.