Fountain Hill Fire Department first responders and officials of the Lehigh County Special Operations Team closed streets around Delaware Avenue and Mohican Street, near the St. Luke's University Hospital's main campus in Fountain Hill May 28 after concrete contractors working on a sidewalk crossing project struck and severed a UGI gas main.

Incident command officer David Boehrer, assistant chief of the Fountain Hill Fire Department said several homes and businesses and a day care near the intersection were briefly evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Officials at the nearby Cedarbrook Fountain Hill facility were alerted but no evacuation was ordered.

Eastern Salisbury Fire Department firefighters were called in to help take air quality readings in the evacuated structures to assure there was no residual gas in the buildings. While the affected gas line was quickly isolated and bypassed, an army of UGI workers converged on the site to repair the gas line which was on the southeast corner of Delaware Avenue and Mohican Street.

Salisbury Police Department and Fountain Hill Police Department units patrolled the area to keep roadways clear as Fountain Hill and Eastern Salisbury fire police closed off public access until Boehrer and Kalynch declared the area safe.