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UGI Crews Continue Replacing Damaged Furnaces and Water Heaters

WILKES-BARRE — Dozens of people in Wilkes-Barre are still dealing without hot water or heat as UGI crews are on day four of working to restore gas service...
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WILKES-BARRE -- Dozens of people in Wilkes-Barre are still dealing without hot water or heat as UGI crews are on day four of working to restore gas service to a neighborhood in the city's Rolling Mill Hill section. They hope to have repairs done before Christmas.

UGI brought in crews from all over the state to help restore natural gas service to more than 120 people in Wilkes-Barre who have been dealing with no hot water and no heat since Friday.

A crew from Harrisburg just restored both services for Miguel Torres.

"They are doing the best that they can I think. They are doing a good job as far as getting everybody up and running," Torres said.

The outage was caused by a gas surge in the lines.

Not only was gas turned off for those near and along Stanton Street, but many of the gas powered appliances in the homes here were also destroyed.

Still some people like Torres are happy the gas surge didn't lead to any injuries.

"The houses could've exploded if one house catches on fire. These houses are so close together that the other house would catch on fire. It will just be like a chain reaction."

UGI has upwards of 60 people working to restore gas service and replace broken appliances that were damaged after the gas surge.

In Carlos Sanchez's home, his family now has hot water but are still waiting for heat and new appliances.

"It was terrible. We had to go to my girlfriend's mom's house. We had to walk out with the kids and it was cold outside to take a shower and stuff," Sanchez said.

Sanchez is having a big family get together for Christmas at his home with family coming from out of state. He has the meat ready to cook for the feast, but hopes UGI can get him a new gas stove in time. There is just three days left.

"I hope we get the stove running and start cooking and stuff. My kids want to have the holidays here. My kids don't want to go nowhere else."

UGI is giving vouchers for new gas powered stoves and dryers for all those who were affected by this gas surge and outage.

Right now the company's priority is to replace hot water heaters and furnaces first.

For customers concerned about when their gas service will be restored, UGI has now set up a customer contact point on South Empire Street.

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