Class Reunion Notices

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WVW performed as the featured ensemble at the Marywood Junior High Wind Band celebration

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A gas leak in the area of Stanton Street and Hazle Avenue once again left residents in the Rolling Mill Hill area of the city without gas or electricity on Thursday.</p><p>This time, 1,700 residents were left without power after UGI officials instructed PPL to cut power in the area as part of their procedure following a gas leak, said UGI spokesman Joe Swope. About 125 residents were without gas service, Swope said.</p><p>Because of the leak, residents within a two-block radius had to be evacuated from their homes, officials said.</p><p>Power had been restored to those residences as of 8 p.m., according to PPL Electric Utilities.</p><p>City Fire Chief Jay Delaney said Thursday evening crews were &#8220;getting closer&#8221; to returning power to impacted residents, focusing on the perimeter of the affected area.</p><p>&#8220;PPL, UGI and myself are trying to return some power street by street,&#8221; Delaney said at about 5 p.m. Thursday. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to start to happen. We&#8217;re optimistic within the next two hours UGI can get this under control.&#8221;</p><p>UGI officials, however, were less optimistic.</p><p>&#8220;Our goal is still to try to restore service tonight,&#8221; Swope said. &#8220;But later, rather than earlier. It&#8217;s not going to be before 7 p.m. and probably for most customers &#8230; it&#8217;s probably going to be a couple hours beyond that.&#8221;</p><p>The region is the same area affected by the over-pressurization of a UGI gas line that left <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/499370/firefighters-responding-to-major-gas-leak-in-wilkes-barre" target="_blank">125 customers without gas service </a>last week, Swope said.</p><p>&#8220;We had a crew there doing some permanent repairs on our system,&#8221; Swope said. &#8220;Unfortunately, while that was taking place, additional damage had occurred.&#8221;</p><p>Two UGI employees were injured during the accident, but had been treated and released from the hospital, Swope said. Swope said he believed the injuries were of a physical nature but didn&#8217;t have specific details.</p><p>Several agencies earlier Thursday responded to the scene including UGI, the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department and Wilkes-Barre police. An extremely loud hissing noise could be heard throughout the affected section of the city.</p><p>The noise, even from a short distance away, was loud enough to require raised voices when speaking.</p><p>The pressure from the leak was so intense that, at times, the hardhats of UGI officials were sent soaring high into the air.</p><p>Swope said residents in the immediate area of the leak were evacuated as a safety precaution.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Volatile&#8217; situation, shelter ready</strong></p><p>Delaney called the situation &#8220;volatile.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s still natural gas that&#8217;s flowing into the atmosphere that has not been contained yet,&#8221; Delaney said.</p><p>Delaney explained that residents within a two-block radius from Stanton and Hazle streets had to be evacuated.</p><p>As a result of the leak, Swope said the same people affected from last week&#8217;s incident will be affected, possibly into Christmas Day.</p><p>&#8220;It is not the same sort of situation as we had last week,&#8221; Swope said, adding that the new leak is a &#8220;straight outage.&#8221;</p><p>Swope explained that crews needed to shut down the system to make the necessary repairs. Crews also have to go door-to-door, shut down service to each residence and then go back to each residence and restore service.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s probably going to take a good chunk of the day,&#8221; he said.</p><p>A temporary shelter set up at G.A.R. Memorial High School Thursday evening was later closed after power was restored to residents, an American Red Cross spokesperson said.</p><p>According to the Wilkes-Barre Police Department, several traffic control posts were established to restrict traffic movement in the area.</p><p>Because of the outage, traffic signals on South Main and Academy streets extending south on South Main Street to Blackman Street and east on Hazle Avenue to Blackman Street had been deactivated. Motorists were encouraged to seek alternate routes around the area of the leak.</p><p><strong>No power, no phones</strong></p><p>Delaney said that the &#8220;explosive atmosphere&#8221; due to so much gas being released forced officials to shut down phone service and power to the area.</p><p>He said firefighters would remain on the scene as officials from UGI worked to cap the leak.</p><p>Officials from Verizon were on the scene to disconnect landline services in the area, John O&#8217;Malley, Verizon public relations manager, said in an email.</p><p>O&#8217;Malley said Verizon temporarily shut off phone service to locations in the Stanton Street, Cedar Lane and Essex Lane area as a &#8220;precautionary response&#8221; to the leak.</p><p>Phone service began getting restored at approximately 6:30 p.m., after Verizon received &#8220;the all-clear&#8221; from the city fire department, O&#8217;Malley said.</p><p><strong>Residents in the dark</strong></p><p>Nancy Manfre was evacuated from her residence on Stanton Street shortly after crews arrived on the scene.</p><p>Manfre, 84, was walked by her friend, Mike. The timing of the leak was not ideal for Manfre. She planned to go to church later in the afternoon and was expecting family from Georgia in the evening.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand it,&#8221; Manfre said referring to the gas leak.</p><p>Other residents gathered throughout Stanton Street and surrounding areas. Many could be seen shaking their heads and voicing their displeasure, as some were still without gas from last week&#8217;s incident.</p><p>Becky Wickkiser, 30, was one of those upset residents. She said she has been without heat or gas since the incident.</p><p>As she stood outside amid the noise and as workers frantically moved around the scene, she was blunt with her feelings on the matter.</p><p>&#8220;This is crazy,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s totally nuts.&#8221;</p><p>Wickkiser explained that she has had to order food in for her children since last week&#8217;s incident, and added that it has affected her family&#8217;s holiday.</p><p>&#8220;You got kids that want to have a good Christmas, and you can&#8217;t even have it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re (utility workers) doing.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Scary situation</strong></p><p>Marissa Gaughan, 48, lives on Loomis Street and was not affected by last week&#8217;s gas line problems. That changed with this morning&#8217;s leak.</p><p>&#8220;We have no lights, we got no power, no phones &#8230;. no gas,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s all off now.&#8221;</p><p>Gaughan worried about elderly citizens in the neighborhood who rely on landline phones and don&#8217;t have cellphones.</p><p>&#8220;Now with no phones, they&#8217;ve got no way to call for help,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a scary situation.&#8221;</p><p>Like Wickkiser, Gaughan said the new outage prevented her from cooking a holiday meal for when her family visits relatives for Christmas Eve.</p><p>&#8220;All my meals are sitting in the refrigerator, which now I have no power, so hopefully that will hold out,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a mess.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A friend and a firefighter walk with Nancy Manfre, 84, after she was evacuated from her Stanton Street home in Wilkes-Barre during a gas leak on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak02-8.jpg</photo0><caption0>A friend and a firefighter walk with Nancy Manfre, 84, after she was evacuated from her Stanton Street home in Wilkes-Barre during a gas leak on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak03-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A Wilkes-Barre firefighter drags a hose along Stanton Street during a gas leak on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak03-8.jpg</photo1><caption1>A Wilkes-Barre firefighter drags a hose along Stanton Street during a gas leak on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak04-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Becky Wickkiser, 30, a resident on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre, watches UGI workers tend to a gas leak on Stanton Street between Loomis Street and Essex Lane on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak04-8.jpg</photo2><caption2>Becky Wickkiser, 30, a resident on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre, watches UGI workers tend to a gas leak on Stanton Street between Loomis Street and Essex Lane on Friday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak05-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">UGI crew members work on shutting off a gas leak on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak05-8.jpg</photo3><caption3>UGI crew members work on shutting off a gas leak on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak06-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">UGI crew members work on shutting off a gas leak on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak06-8.jpg</photo4><caption4>UGI crew members work on shutting off a gas leak on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak07-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A resident is evacuated from her home as crews work to repair a gas leak on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak07-8.jpg</photo5><caption5>A resident is evacuated from her home as crews work to repair a gas leak on Stanton Street in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption5><photoCredit5>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak01-8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A Wilkes-Barre firefighter assists Nancy Manfre, 84, as she is evacuated from her Stanton Street home in Wilkes-Barre during a gas leak on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_gasleak01-8.jpg</photo6><caption6>A Wilkes-Barre firefighter assists Nancy Manfre, 84, as she is evacuated from her Stanton Street home in Wilkes-Barre during a gas leak on Friday. </caption6><photoCredit6>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit6></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Rolling Mill Hill residents lose gas, power, phone service</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar and Joe Dolinsky</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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Updated: Crews beginning to restore power after ruptured gas line forced evacuations, loss of gas, electric, phone service in Wilkes-Barre