Dear Editor:

In May, while I was home recuperating from surgery, my daughter said she smelled gas.

A new fireplace had been installed that week and I had thought it was leftover from painting burning off with the first lighting. I asked a neighbor, Jim Powers, to give his opinion and he called the Boothbay Harbor Fire Department. Matt Sledge and Evan Hepburn soon appeared and echoed that the smell was gas and found it was stronger in the crawl space. A fan was quickly put in a window and windows and doors were opened to dissipate the gas but the firemen wanted some windows in the cellar unsealed so I called my favorite carpenter, Adriano Pepa, who came quickly. A new dad, he had left his family to come to our rescue and wished us a Happy Mother’s Day as he headed back home. It was quite a crowd and the gas line plumber for the company that had installed the fireplace soon appeared, finding a tiny crack in a nut at a joint and quickly repaired it.

With recent explosions in homes due to gas issues, I am indeed most appreciative of the people who intervened, acting professionally and quickly preventing what was on its way to being a tragedy.

Anyone who suspects there may be a gas leak, I urge you to take action. Thanks to all who came out to my home on Mother’s Day. I am most grateful.

Carol Burrill

Boothbay Harbor