There were three natural gas leaks in the area near the 900 block of West Sixth Street in Junction City Wednesday afternoon. They occurred during construction work on the new Dollar General Store being built in that area.

There were no injuries, but area businesses had to be evacuated, some more than one time. The Larry Dixon Center for Innovative Studies was also evacuated for a short time.

The first leak was reported about 12:15 p.m. and repairs were made by Kansas Gas Service. But Junction City Fire Department Battalion Chief Dennis Wetklow reported that firefighters were called back to the scene at 3:12 p.m. “The first gas leak we had gas feed from one end. On this one we had gas feeding from two different ends, two different sides of the line.” Wetklow said in the latter case they were getting a gas flow from two different directions.

Drills were used by Kansas Gas Service to dig up the ground to locate the leaks.

The initial leak occurred when a construction contractor hit a natural gas line. Wetklow noted the second incident was caused when an excavator “clipped another line.” He added the problem is that the lines were not in the spot where they were supposed to be located. They were off a few feet.

In the first case, in addition to the Larry Dixon Center for Innovative Studies  a small number of businesses had to be evacuated,  including the nearby INTRUST Bank. In the second case multiple businesses had to be evacuated about two-and-half hours, although the bank was not included in that round.  No major property damage was reported to any of the businesses.

Firefighters were able to return to the Fire Department about 5:50 p.m.