Who should I call about a suspected gas leak — the gas company or a fireplace technician?
In Asheville, an active gas smell is your natural-gas utility's emergency line or 911 first — dialed from the yard, not the kitchen — and finding the leak afterward is our job as a licensed gas contractor. We're headquartered right here at 629 Emma Rd in West Asheville, so the second call rarely has far to travel.
The emergency call comes before the fireplace call
Get everyone out without touching a light switch or lighting anything, then from the driveway call the utility's around-the-clock emergency number, or 911. On the Asheville mains, a crew rolls any hour, sweeps the area with a gas detector, and shuts the supply off at the meter — no bill, no lecture. This is the one call a hearth company can't make for you: the utility controls what feeds your street, and a fireplace technician has no authority over it.
Then the leak is ours to trace
The utility stops at your meter; the leak in your house piping or fireplace is yours to repair, and in North Carolina that's licensed gas-contractor work — not a handyman, not the showroom that sold the unit. We isolate the run, put it under test pressure with a manometer, fix the fitting, retest, and pull the Buncombe County permit when the scope calls for it so an inspector signs off and your insurance stays intact. Montford's original masonry hearths and the newer South Asheville clean-face installs fail in different spots, and we know both.
Minutes away, day or night
Because we're based on Emma Rd, an after-hours no-relight call in North Asheville or Biltmore Village doesn't sit in a queue. Save our 24/7 line, (828) 545-0525, right under the utility's emergency number — utility first to make it safe, us second to make it right.
Fireplace help in Asheville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.