Newcastle Seniors Without Heat After Gas Line Ruptures At Mobile Home Park

NEWCASTLE (CBS13) — Senior citizens in Placer County have been left without heat for more than a week after a natural gas line ruptured in a mobile home park.

Ben Iler's heater hasn't worked in more than a week.

"I'm 94 years old and it's not the easiest thing to to through," he said.

And there's no natural gas for his stove or hot water heater either.

"They say cheer up, it could be worse, so I cheered up and sure enough it got worse," he said.

He and his wife Ruth are among a few hundred residents in the Castle City Mobile Home Park whose trailers lost gas when an underground pipe broke.

Crews have dug trenches to patch the pipe. The property's management says the gas line was 45 years old and broke due to old age. They're promising residents a credit on their rent and utility bills and even offered to put them up in motels.

But many like Ben are choosing to stay and just deal with the cold in hopes it'll be fixed by Thanksgiving.

"Oh we'll stick it out," he said. "It's good for ya."

Management says they were able to restore pressure to the pipes on Tuesday and hope to have the gas back on by Wednesday.