Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Evacuation of the Kosciusko County Justice Building, including the county jail, was necessary Tuesday after a gas line was damaged during construction work at the site.
A worker cleaning and scraping the ground around the west end of the building, adjacent to Washington Street, to prepare for concrete work, apparently caught the bucket of his equipment on the 1-1/2-inch line, breaking it and causing a gas leak. The accident occurred about 3 p.m. and the gas fumes were drawn into the building via the ventilation system before the system was shut down.
Employees and patrons of the Justice Building were evacuated and the inmates in the Kosciusko County Jail were escorted from the jail to the Munson Building on Lake Street, between Main and Fort Wayne streets. None of the nearby homes or businesses was evacuated.
Curious passersby caused slight traffic problems while trying to view the reason for the multiple emergency vehicles and armed police officers stationed in the vicinity. Several officers, armed with shotguns, were positioned outside the Munson Building, and police cars and fire trucks blocked intersections around the area. KCJ Commander Dave Curtis said the evacuation of the jail was quite orderly and the 111 inmates were all cooperative.
Kosciusko County Administrator Ron Robinson said that once the problem was determined and the extent of the damage was known, employees were sent home for the remainder of the day.
Robinson said NIPSCO was on the scene almost immediately and a new line was installed. He said the ongoing construction project apparently lowered the grade around the building and caused the gas line to be closer to the surface than it was originally.
Inmates were returned to the jail about 5 p.m.
The Justice Building reopened this morning for business as usual.
