.jpg)
A contractor was severely burned from an explosion and fire resulting from a gas leak at The Gin Hotel in downtown Lexington Tuesday morning.
The natural gas line was broken during routine cleaning of the exhaust hood and ducts of the hotel’s second floor restaurant kitchen, Lexington Fire Department Chief Ty Dickerson told The News-Gazette in an email. The injured contractor was quickly transported to the hospital.
The initial call was reported to the central dispatch center through a fire alarm and heat detector of the center’s alarm monitoring company. After upgrading the issue from a fire alarm to a structure fire, the center dispatched the Lexington Fire Department, the Buena Vista Fire Department, and Kerrs Creek Fire and EMS, Dickerson said. Main Street in front of the hotel was blocked off by police as emergency vehicles arrived.
Dickerson noted that upon their arrival, firefighters entered the building and cut off the gas flowing from the broken pipe. They began evacuating all the hotel occupants as gas had invaded the entire hotel structure and threatened a secondary fire or explosion. To assist in clearing gas out of the building, fire departments also established two high volume ventilation fans.
Once the leak was secured and residual natural gas had cleared the building, firefighters turned the job over to the building official, health department inspector, and Columbia Gas to determine repairs prior to the natural gas being turned back on in the building, Dickerson said.
