Displaced resident recounts making 'hectic' living arrangements as Kingsville gas leak cause still unknown

Determining the source of a gasoline leak in Kingsville which prompted the town to issue a localized state of emergency has proven to be more difficult than expected.

Emergency crews with Kingsville fire, OPP and Windsor fire's HAZMAT team havebeen at the scene of a convenience store and gas bar on Essex County Roads 20 and 23 since Sunday. One day later, the Town of Kingsville issued a state of emergency, requiring residents and businesses within 500 metres of the intersection to be evacuated.

As of Thursday,the source of the fuel spill remainsa mystery. The incident resulted in residents in four homes being required to evacuate. Those homes fall in Essex but the business where the spill occurred lies in Kingsville.

"Nobody was talking to anybody," said Paul St. Denis, one of the displaced residents, adding it was very difficult getting any information from the town concerning the gas leak when it first happened.. "Everybody dropped the ball."

St. Denis added, throughout the week, more information was relayed to displaced residents but things are "still hectic not knowing when you can go back home."

Following the town's state of emergency, St. Denis had to make his own arrangements. Currently, he and his pets are staying at his daughter's house. It's a tight fit, he said, as people come and go at different times.

"I'm ready to get back home."

"There's quite a long history of that location as a gas stop in the county," said Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos, pointing to the specific steps that have been undertaken in the cleanup effort.

"We've cleaned out the propane tank. We've emptied out the original gas tanks that they've been utilizing now trying to eliminate all potential sources," said Santos, adding officials believe the leak is coming from an old, underground fuel tank which have yet to locate.

The hope, Santos said, is for the town to advise residents that they can return to their homes Friday, but that's not a certainty.

On Thursday, emergency crews continued their work, pumping out fuel from the crawl space of the building using an exterior pump and they were also forced to rebuild part of the building's foundation.