BRADENTON BEACH – A busy night on Bridge Street came to an abrupt halt due to what was believed to be a natural gas leak.
As people wandered among bars, shops and restaurants on June 7, customers at the Bridge Tender Inn were enjoying dinner and drinks by the bay when fire trucks and police began to arrive on Bay Drive South. Bystanders were told to leave the area and Bridge Tender Inn customers were evacuated from the property due to a reported gas leak.
“They narrowed it down to a car. There was a young girl from Georgia that had driven up here from Siesta Key,” said Shannon Altier, assistant general manager at Bridge Tender Inn. “The fire department had really sensitive equipment to detect leaking gas, but they didn’t find anything. It turned out to be a belt from the young lady’s car that eventually had to be towed away.”
According to multiple bystanders, the smell was almost identical to that of natural gas. Altier and the rest of the Bridge Tender Inn staff were relieved to hear the situation posed no danger, but it did cost the establishment a great deal of money due to orders that had already been placed and prepared when patrons were evacuated, as well as about two hours of lost revenue.
“We lost a little bit, but I was honestly just worried about the little girl in the car,” Altier said. “She had no idea what to do. I told her to not drive more than a block, and the car died on Bridge Street a few feet later.”
The incident started around 8 p.m. and according to Altier, fire officials were still on the scene until after 10 p.m. Nobody was injured and no property other than the vehicle with the faulty belt was damaged.
