FORT WORTH, Texas — Adam Jones owns and operates several restaurants in downtown Fort Worth including the restaurant called Grace. It's located a couple of blocks from the Sandman Hotel.
For a couple of days now, Jones has been in direct contact with Atmos Energy getting updates on a new situation near his restaurant at 7th and Commerce Street.
"For my leak on Commerce Street, we talked to supervision, and they have been extremely helpful," said Jones.
The help comes after someone reported smelling gas this week around the 7th and Commerce Street area of his restaurant.
This time it's had a direct impact on business.
"Because of that leak, they turned the gas off to the building. The building is 100% electric. But to try and open, Grace operates on gas to cook," said Jones.
Atmos Energy confirmed their technicians responded to make necessary repairs. They did not call for evacuations. But the gas shut-off situation for two days also impacted Chief Operating Officer Steve Till and his staff at the Petroleum Club.
Till has served as General Manager of the Petroleum Club for the past six years.
"We thought it was going to be a really a minor, you know, maybe half a day situation. So it's been Tuesday to now today, Thursday afternoon," said Till.
Both Adam and Till are grateful no one lost their lives in the explosion. Especially after seeing the aftermath in the recent videos recorded seconds after the blast, including a video that shows one of the first police officers at the scene helping people to rescue.
Despite being forced to stay closed following another gas smell scare, feeling safe downtown is far more important to the Fort Worth businessmen. Till has allowed his employees at the Petroleum Club to use their PTO during the gas shut-off period since it had to stay closed.
"We were concerned about the safety of anybody that was in or around the Sand Man Hotel," said Till.
"Losing a few dollars is never fun," said Jones, "But safety was definitely the number one priority."
Atmos notified both restaurants that the gas leak repairs were completed late Thursday afternoon. That cleared the way for them to open for business as usual.