Early morning residential gas leak in Beaumont forces home evacuations
BEAUMONT, Calif., — Authorities say an early morning gas leak reported in a Beaumont neighborhood forced the hours-long evacuation of nearly a dozen homes and the closure of a roadway yesterday morning, Sunday, Nov. 21. Firefighters and other emergency personnel spent several hours searching for the source of, and then mitigating the leak, which did not result in any reported injuries.
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Cal Fire – Riverside, City of Beaumont Police Department, SoCal Gas, and other emergency personnel were dispatched to the 1100 block of Palm Avenue near 11th Street around 3 a.m., according to Cal Fire and Beaumont PD social media releases.
Officials say a total of nine homes were evacuated while officials searched for the source of a gas leak early yesterday morning. Beaumont Police Department photo
Arriving within minutes, officials quickly confirmed the heavy presence of natural gas fumes and immediately began evacuating homes in the immediate area.
While officials worked to locate and mitigate the source of the leak, Palm Avenue was closed in both directions, between 11th and 12th streets, with Beaumont PD at the time requesting residents to avoid the area.
At around 6:15 p.m., officials updated that SoCal Gas crews had located the source of the leak and had begun the process of repairing the cause of the leak.
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By 7 a.m., most of the evacuated residents, except for those who live at the home where the leak was detected, had been allowed to return home. However, Palm Avenue remained closed for several more hours while the Gas Company continued to work at the scene.
The damaged gas line was eventually repaired, at which time Palm Avenue was reopened.
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Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.