The source of a natural gas odor off Waverly Road north of U.S. Highway 12 has been identified.

Porter Fire Chief Lewis Craig told the Chesterton Tribune today that an abandoned gas line along the South Shore right-of-way was apparently ruptured when the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District recently installed a new culvert in the area and that gas still left in the line was seeping through the culvert.

The odor, he said, is “come and go” and probably will be for some time, as the Northern Indiana Public Service Company has advised him that there’s really nothing that can be done except to wait for the residual gas in the abandoned line to dissipate.

The Porter Fire Department was called to the area twice on Sunday, from 4:46 to 5:22 p.m. and then again from 7 to 7:19 p.m., Craig said, in response to reports made to the Porter Police Department.

Self-Cleaning Oven

Smokes House

Earlier on Sunday, at 1:50 p.m., the PFD responded to a report of smoke in a house in the 300 block of Dearborn Street. On firefighters’ arrival—they were assisted automatically by Chesterton and Burns Harbor firefighters—they learned that a resident had put her electric oven on self-clean but that grease in the oven had been ignited.

The fire in the oven was apparently out when firefighters arrived and the resident had begun ventilating the house herself, Craig said. Firefighters were unable to open the oven until it cooled, so they unplugged it and removed it from the residence.

The PFD cleared the scene at 2:21 p.m.

Posted 9/8/2008