Seven houses were evacuated this morning in a cul de sac in the 9200 block of West Berry Place in Jefferson County due to a residential gas leak.
Micki Trost, spokesperson for the West Metro Fire Protection District, said the evacuation began shortly after 7 a.m.
The area, known as Governors Ranch, is just northwest of Southwest Plaza and just east of Kipling Parkway.
Glenda Willman, one of those who evacuated, said the sound of the gas leak was so loud that it woke her neighbor Jon Constant.
She said it appeared the leak was in the area of a gas line to the Constant home.
She said Constant called 9-1-1.
“They told him to get out of the house, not to turn on the lights in the house and not to disconnect his cell phone,” said Willman.
Constant, his wife and their two children got out of the house without incident and the surrounding neighbors also evacuated.
Willman said that as of 7:50 a.m., the sound of the gas escape has subsided; she and most of the others were allowed back in, but the Constant home is still full of gas.
“It’s to Jon’s credit that he woke up and heard it,” said Willman. “I would have thought it was the sprinkler system. He investigated – to his credit.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
