Crews respond to gas leak in downtown Spokane

The Spokane Fire Department responded to the scene of a natural gas leak in west downtown this afternoon. The leak, reported shortly after 2 p.m., may have been caused by a backhoe operator working behind Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes at Madison and Riverside streets. An Avista Utilities crew shut off the gas supply. Sprague and Riverside were briefly closed while crews searched for the source of the gas leak.