Some Soledad residents still have gas shut off after fire

Nearly 300 people are still without gas after a fire in Soledad, seven days ago.

Many of the residents said it has been a huge inconvenience. PG&E won’t turn the gas back on because of safety concerns even after county inspectors said everything was working properly.

Filomena Sanchez has been doing the dishes with cold water for almost a week now, but the dishes aren’t the worst part. Sanchez said its hard to tolerate the cold when bathing.

Sanchez and almost 250 others living in the low income houses on the side of Highway 101 near Soledad Prison, haven’t been feeling any heat after a fire broke out last Saturday.

“Some ladies left and they forgot about a pan on the stove that was on and that’s when all the problems started,” said Sanchez.

The day of the fire, PG&E shut off the gas after its workers noticed a gas leak.
Miguel Flores helps with the maintenance at the complex.

“So we called contractors, the plumbers to come check it out,” said Flores.

Flores said the inspectors checked out the plumbers’ work.

“He signed off on it saying it was good to go,” said Flores.

The county inspector said all Flores had to do was call PG&E to get the gas turned on, but said there were even more delays.

“They said that it wasn’t good yet, there were still leaks,” said Flores.

News Channel 5 contacted PG&E to ask them why they hadn’t turned the gas back on.

Their spokesperson told us they take everyone’s safety very serious. Adding its crews found other risk factors after the county’s inspection and said it will not be able to turn the gas on until repairs are done.

Flores called the plumber out again.

“He checked and pressurized the line and said it was good but I don’t know if PG&E don’t want to help or what’s going on,” said Flores.

Residents had no option but to heat their water to bathe and find easy eating options.

Without an idea of when they’ll be back to their normal lives Sanchez asks if anyone is paying attention to them.

“Lets see who will listen to us and see this problem that we all have. But everyone here is too embarrassed,” said Sanchez.

In the meantime the landlord has been helping out giving residents a meal a day. Resident said they’ve gone without hot water for 15 days before because of a gas leak.