A Saturday morning explosion caused by a gas leak in downtown Hutchinson causes the evacuation of nearby residents and gas outages in the city.

Around 9:30 Saturday morning, firefighters were called to the location of Steffen’s Auto Parts at Avenue E and Main Street in Hutch. Early reports indicated a strong odor of natural gas in the area. Soon after arrival, the building exploded. All occupants of the building were able to escape before the explosion and no injuries were reported.

Nearby buildings were also evacuated and the main gas line into the area was shut off to allow fire crews to extinguish the blaze caused by the explosion.