On the above date at 11:54 a.m. the Washington County Sheriff’s were notified of a gas line that was struck in the area of 1907 Highway 175 in the village of Richfield.
The line was reported to be a 4-inch gas line and it was struck by a road construction crew working on the Hwy 175 reconstruction project. Richfield Fire Department was paged and WE Energies was contacted. Wisconsin Southern Railroad was also contacted to stop all rail traffic coming into this area. Construction work was also halted.
Richfield Fire Department advised that all structures on both sides of Hwy 175 between Elm Street and Pleasant Hill Road along with the structures on the west side of Railroad Street be evacuated. Richfield Fire Department personnel were re-paged to assist with evacuation efforts along with Sheriff’s Department personnel who were on-scene. Over 30 structures including residences and businesses were evacuated.
The WE Energies Emergency Gas Service was on-scene at approximately 12:30pm and the gas line was completely shut off by approximately 2:15 p.m. The investigation showed that an excavator and bulldozer were working together. The bulldozer was moving some dirt close to the gas line and struck the line which was actually a 6-inch gas line approximately 4 feet below the surface.
At this time personnel from WE Energies, Richfield Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Office are still on-scene. Residences and businesses are still evacuated. Construction work continues to be halted and there is no traffic allowed in the area. That is all the information we have at this time.