Jacksonville neighbors unable to take hot showers after gas unexpectedly shut off

Jacksonville neighbors say they weren't able to take hot showers or cook on their stoves for days after gas was shut off to almost 60 homes without warning.

"Saturday night, we went to go cook food and turned it on and nothing," Garret Miller said.

Miller says he wasn't able to shower, or clean bottles for his 5-month-old daughter.

"We tried to contact Sawyer and we stayed on hold for almost an hour," he said.

Several other neighbors told Action News Jax that they contacted Sawyer Gas after their supply was cut off Saturday night.

On Monday, many were still waiting for it to be turned on.

Action News Jax contacted Sawyer Gas to get answers about why they were without gas.

A spokesperson said a tank that serves 58 homes in the community ran out after an increase in use during cold weather.

Technicians had to turn off the supply and conduct a mandatory leak inspection early Sunday morning, she said.

The Sawyer Gas spokesperson said three technicians went door-to-door Sunday ensuring people's systems were free of leaks before turning on the gas to each home.

She said six technicians were in the neighborhood Monday and would not leave until gas was restored to all homes.

Action News Jax Brittney Donovan spoke with Miller right after his gas was turned on.

"I was very, very happy," he said. "I’m still waiting for hot water so I can take a shower."

The Sawyer Gas spokesperson said gas was restored to all but six homes as of 6 p.m. Monday.

She said the company plans to issue a credit to customers for their inconvenience.

Full statement from Sawyer Gas:

"Our customer did experience an out of gas situation due to the increased demand from customers as the region experiences unusually cold weather.  A brief overview of the facts are outlined below:

A call came into our emergency call center at approximately 11:22 PM Saturday night with a complaint of a gas odor.  We dispatched a service technician and discovered that the two propane tanks that service this neighborhood were out of gas.

As a result, the service technician shut down the system for safety reasons by locking off the propane supply to the individual homes.  By early Sunday morning, three service techs began performing the required leak checks to the individual homes to ensure they were leak free.

Today, we have deployed 6 service technicians to conduct the required leak checks and as of earlier today, we have approximately 20 homes remaining.

We are knocking on doors and phoning homeowners in order to get access to the homes to perform the leak checks.

We will remain in the neighborhood until all homes are restored.

Sawyer Gas apologizes for the interruption in service and the inconvenience experienced by our customers in this neighborhood.

As widely reported on, the unusual cold temperatures have resulted in increased demand by propane users.

To respond to this demand, our locations have extended our daily hours and employees are working nights and weekends to continue deliveries and keep communications open with our customers.

We will also be providing a credit to be determined for the customer’s inconvenience and we appreciate their patience as we ensure their system is safe.

While the region continues to experience these cold temperatures, we encourage our customers to check their propane gauges and depending on their delivery status, call us as outlined below:

·         For will call customers, contact us for a delivery when your tank is at 30%.  Please place your order online if eligible to avoid long waits on the phone.

·         For forecast customer, please check your gauge and contact us if below 30% to ensure we have a delivery scheduled and to correctly update our forecast system."

Cox Media Group