Internet company still banned in Columbia after gas leaks, but it’s moved into Lexington Co.

It’s been more than two months since the new internet company Lumos was made to halt all of its work laying cable in Columbia after contractors hired by the company caused half a dozen gas leaks, numerous water line breaks and the evacuations of homes in the city. The company has still not been permitted to resume its work laying promised fiber optic cable in Columbia.

In the meantime, though, the company is moving ahead with work in Lexington County.

Lumos, a North Carolina-based fiber optic internet company, was digging to lay fiber in various Columbia neighborhoods this fall.

But the Columbia-Richland Fire Department issued a stop work order Nov. 14 halting Lumos from continuing work in Columbia after numerous gas line breaks caused the evacuation of homes in the Elmwood Park neighborhood and led to a closure of the busy Elmwood Avenue the day prior.

Hazmat crews swept the neighborhood following the gas line breaks to ensure there were no lingering leaks.

The company also hit at least two 6-inch water mains in different locations in the city: one on Chevis Road in the South Kilbourne neighborhood and another behind the Veterans Affairs hospital off Garners Ferry Road, according to Columbia officials.

Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said the fire department had never experienced a situation in which one company caused so many leaks in such a short time frame, Jenkins told The State after the November incidents.

Lumos is still not permitted to resume work in Columbia, the Columbia-Richland Fire Department has confirmed. The company was required to submit detailed plans to the fire department for how it would resume work without causing similar damage, but Columbia officials have not yet determined if or when the company can resume work in the city.

Lumos has been working in other Midlands jurisdictions, including in the Cayce and West Columbia area.

A spokesperson for the city of Cayce, Ashley Hunter, said Cayce has experienced a few minor water line breaks from Lumos’ work, but nothing to the degree that occurred in Columbia. Cayce has allowed the company to continue its work following those incidents.

Lumos announced in late September that it had received the proper franchise agreements with Columbia, West Columbia and Irmo to start laying 1,200 miles of fiber optic cable between Richland and Lexington counties. The company promised to invest $100 million between the two counties, while expanding “high-speed internet access to many unserved and underserved residents and (providing) an added boost to economic development in the area,” the company declared in a press release Sept. 27.

Lumos is active in North Carolina and Virginia, in addition to expanding into South Carolina. The company has also announced a $100 million investment in Greenville County.