Gas leak prompts evacuations in Beverly Hills

A handful of homes were evacuated Friday morning in Beverly Hills due to a gas leak.

About a dozen homes were evacuated in the 16,200 block of Birwood Avenue, which is near 14 Mile Road and Pierce Street. The homes were evacuated for about four hours before the all-clear was given.

Crews arrived at the scene around 6 this morning. They say they could smell the gas when they got there, and could hear gas coming from under a meter at a home.

The leak was discovered by a woman who was running in the neighborhood, and heard a strange noise and smelled the strong odor of gas.

"We really don't know what caused this leak. We'll have to get in there and make repairs, and we always take the damaged piece of pipe or the piece of pipe that was affected, we'll examine it and try to figure out what caused the issue," says Debra Dodd with Consumers Energy.

A spokesperson with Consumers Energy applauded neighbors for calling in right away when they smelled the gas.