There are a lot of ways to detect that there is a natural gas leak in your home but the most common sign is the distinctive rotten-egg smell of natural gas. When most people enter their houses and smell a gas leak, they often get into panic mode because of not knowing how to handle the situation. As a result, they end up acting wrongly and inefficiently as regards responding to the emergency they are faced with.

As a matter of fact, a considerable number of residential accidents caused by gas leaks can actually be prevented provided if homeowners know what to do in the event of a gas leak. Here are a few tips on how you can effectively respond to a gas leak emergency in your home. 

Evacuate the area immediately

When faced with a gas leak emergency, it is important to appreciate the fact that natural gas can explode easily and this makes it extremely dangerous to stay in the affected area and even its surroundings. Therefore, the first thing you should do is to leave the area immediately without touching anything. This is because you may unknowingly exacerbate the problem. For example, you should not turn the lights on or off as a faulty light switch may produce electrical sparks, which may cause an explosion.

As you exit from your residential premises and move a far distance away from it, make sure you caution everybody nearby to do so as well. However, you should be careful not to do that in an alarming way as this may scare some people and cause total panic. Try to act calm and composed but as promptly as you possibly can due to the gravity of the situation.

Call in the right people

Once you are a safe distance away from your home, inform the relevant experts to come and deal with the situation. These include the gas supply company, the fire department and the local police. The gas supply company will come first to stop the supply of gas into your home and then identify trouble spots so as to fix them. They police will ensure that no unauthorized individuals are allowed near the area whereas the fire department will be on standby just in case a fire incident occurs.

Working together, the gas company, the police and the fire brigades will ensure that safety risk levels are reduced, e.g. by cordoning off the entire area so that no one can light a cigarette or start their car's engine, which can trigger sparks and cause fires or explosions.