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Emergency Help

What To Do First: Emergency Help for Your Home

Plain-language answers for the moments that don't wait — gas odors, CO alarms, burst pipes, sewage backups, leaking water heaters, and a dead AC in a heat wave. What to do in the first minutes, what's safe to check yourself, and when to get out and call for help.

Smell gas? CO alarm sounding? Burning smell you can't find? Leave the house first.

Get everyone to fresh air, then call 911 — and for a gas odor, SoCalGas's 24-hour emergency line — from outside. Call Power Pro after you're safe: (833) 212-2124 . Never search for a gas leak or a hidden fire yourself.

Gas & Carbon Monoxide Plumbing Emergencies Heating & Cooling Emergencies

Gas & Carbon Monoxide

These two get their own section because the rules are different: for gas and CO, distance comes first and diagnosis comes later. Everything here starts with getting people to fresh air.

I smell gas (rotten eggs). What do I do right now?

Leave first — call 911 before anything else

Leave the house first — everyone, including pets — without touching light switches, phones, or the garage door opener on your way out. Any spark can ignite accumulated gas. Call SoCalGas's 24-hour emergency line or 911 from outside, and don't go back in until the utility says it's safe.

  1. Get everyone out now. Don't stop to open windows or find the source.
  2. Don't operate ANYTHING electrical on the way out — no switches, no thermostat, no garage door opener.
  3. From outside, call SoCalGas's 24-hour emergency line or 911.
  4. Stay out until the utility clears the home.
  5. After it's safe: the house-side repair (the leaking line or fitting) is licensed plumbing work — that's when you call us.
Once you're safe, call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Full guide: what to do if you smell gas → Never-DIY gas work: why →

My CO alarm is going off. Is it real, and what's the order of operations?

Leave first — call 911 before anything else

Treat every CO alarm as real — carbon monoxide is invisible and odorless, so the alarm is the only information you have. Get everyone to fresh air and call 911; the fire department carries meters that confirm or clear the air in minutes. Diagnosis of the source comes after people are safe.

  1. Move everyone outside to fresh air immediately.
  2. Call 911 from outside — responders will meter the air.
  3. If anyone has headache, dizziness, nausea, or confusion, say so — those are CO exposure symptoms and medics need to know.
  4. Don't air the house out before responders arrive if you can avoid it — it erases the reading that finds the source.
  5. After the all-clear: have the gas appliances checked (furnace, water heater, range). Intermittent CO from a failing heat exchanger or backdrafting flue is exactly what a combustion test finds.
Once you're safe, call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → CO & smoke detectors guide → Cracked heat exchangers & CO →

An earthquake just hit. Should I shut off my gas?

Only if you have a reason: the smell of gas, a hissing sound, or visible damage to the meter or gas appliances. Don't shut off gas preemptively after every shake — once it's off, it stays off until the system is checked and relit, which can mean days without hot water. If you DO smell gas, it's the full evacuation drill: out, then call from outside.

  1. After shaking stops, sniff near gas appliances and the meter — nose first, tools later.
  2. If you smell gas or hear hissing: everyone out, call SoCalGas or 911 from outside.
  3. If you shut the meter valve, don't turn it back on yourself — the utility or a licensed plumber restores it after a check.
  4. Consider a seismic shutoff valve so this decision is automatic next time.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Earthquake gas shutoff valves → Earthquake plumbing & gas safety guide →

More than a quick fix? Gas line services →

Plumbing Emergencies

Water emergencies are won or lost in the first five minutes — and the winning move is almost always the same: stop the water, then call. Know your shutoffs before you need them.

A pipe burst / water is spraying. What's the first move?

Shut off the water at the main valve — usually near where the supply enters the house, at the front hose bib area, or at the meter box by the street. Every minute of a pressurized leak is gallons into your walls and floors, so the valve comes before the phone call, the towels, and the photos.

  1. Close the main shutoff valve (turn clockwise). If the house valve is stuck, the meter box at the parkway has one too.
  2. Open a couple of low faucets (tub, outdoor bib) to drain pressure from the lines.
  3. If water reached outlets, ceiling fixtures, or the panel area, keep clear of them.
  4. Move what's movable, then photograph everything for insurance.
  5. Call us — burst-pipe calls get emergency priority, and the repair usually reveals whether this was a one-off or a warning about the pipe's era.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Whole-home leak protection → Repipe warning signs →

Sewage is backing up into my tub or shower. What do I do?

Stop using water everywhere in the house immediately — every flush, shower, and dishwasher cycle upstream adds to what's coming up downstream. A backup at the lowest fixture means the main sewer line is blocked; the water has nowhere to go but back at you.

  1. All water use stops: no flushing, no laundry, no dishwasher — tell everyone in the house.
  2. Keep people and pets away from the affected area; sewage is a hygiene hazard, not just a mess.
  3. If you know where your cleanout is (a capped pipe near the house perimeter), don't open it in a doorway or garage — an over-pressurized line can release when opened.
  4. Call us. A mainline blockage needs professional clearing, and a camera inspection afterward tells you whether this was wipes-and-grease or roots-and-broken-pipe.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Drain & sewer services → Sewer camera inspection →

My water heater is leaking. How urgent is it?

It depends on where the water is coming from — and 'from the tank itself' is the urgent answer. A drip at a fitting or valve is a repair; water seeping from the tank body means the tank has failed internally, and the next stage can be sudden. Either way, you can make it safe in two minutes.

  1. Close the cold-water shutoff valve on the pipe above the water heater (clockwise).
  2. Gas unit: turn the gas control knob to OFF. Electric: switch off its breaker.
  3. If water is spreading, the tank's drain valve plus a garden hose to a drain can empty it — or leave that to us.
  4. Note the tank's age from the serial number sticker: past 10–12 years, replacement usually beats repair, and we'll show you the math either way.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Water heater services → T&P valve safety →

I think I have a slab leak (warm floor, spinning meter). Is that an emergency?

It's urgent but not usually a middle-of-the-night emergency — with one exception: if you see active flooding or the water bill and meter say you're losing serious volume, shut off the main and treat it as now. Otherwise, a suspected slab leak is a book-the-detection-visit-this-week problem, because it worsens quietly and steadily rather than suddenly.

  1. Do the meter test: everything off, watch the meter's leak indicator — movement means loss.
  2. If loss is significant or you see water surfacing, close the main shutoff; you can reopen it for showers and dishes while awaiting repair.
  3. Book electronic leak detection — locating the leak precisely is what prevents exploratory demolition.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Slab leak warning signs → Leak detection services →

More than a quick fix? Plumbing services →

Heating & Cooling Emergencies

A dead system in a SoCal heat wave or cold snap is a real emergency for infants, elders, and anyone medically vulnerable. Here's what's safe to check yourself before calling — sometimes it's a five-minute fix.

My AC died in a heat wave. What can I safely check before calling?

Three homeowner-safe checks solve a surprising share of dead-AC calls: the thermostat (fresh batteries, actually set to COOL and below room temperature), the filter (a fully choked filter can ice the coil and shut the system down), and the breakers (both the air handler's and the outdoor unit's). If those don't revive it, stop there — everything deeper is refrigerant, capacitors, and high voltage.

  1. Thermostat: batteries, mode COOL, setpoint below room temp.
  2. Filter: if it's gray felt, replace it. If the indoor coil iced up, leave the system OFF with the fan ON for a couple of hours to thaw before retrying.
  3. Breakers: check both indoor and outdoor unit breakers; reset once, firmly. If it trips again, leave it off and call — repeated resets damage equipment.
  4. While you wait: close blinds on sun-facing windows, run ceiling fans, and get vulnerable people to the coolest room or somewhere air-conditioned.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → AC repair & service → Symptom checker: diagnose it yourself →

My furnace won't heat during a cold snap. What do I check first?

Same trio as the AC — thermostat, filter, breaker — plus one more: the furnace's own power switch, which looks exactly like a light switch on or near the unit and gets flipped off by accident more than anyone admits. If the furnace tries to start and shuts back down repeatedly, stop retrying and call; short-cycling into a fault is the system protecting itself.

  1. Thermostat: batteries, HEAT mode, setpoint above room temp.
  2. The light-switch-looking switch on or beside the furnace: it should be ON.
  3. Filter: a choked filter overheats the exchanger and trips the limit switch — replace it and retry once.
  4. If it starts then stops repeatedly, or you smell anything burning beyond brief first-of-season dust, shut it off and call.
Call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Heating & furnace services → Cracked heat exchangers & CO →

There's a burning smell when my heat runs. When is that an emergency?

Leave first — call 911 before anything else

A faint dusty burning smell for the first hour of the season's first heating run is normal — it's the summer's dust burning off the exchanger. A burning smell that's electrical or plastic-like, that persists, or that comes with visible smoke is not: shut the system off at the thermostat and the furnace switch. And if you smell burning anywhere and can't find the source, that's a leave-and-call-911 situation, not a diagnose-it-yourself one.

  1. First run of the season + faint dust smell that fades: normal, monitor it.
  2. Electrical or plastic burning smell: system OFF (thermostat and the furnace's switch), then call us.
  3. Burning smell you can't locate, or any visible smoke: everyone out, 911 from outside. Fire crews find hidden heat with thermal cameras — that's their job, not yours.
Once you're safe, call Power Pro (833) 212-2124 → Heating services → CO & smoke detectors guide →

More than a quick fix? Air conditioning services →

Before the next emergency

These 10 answers cover the first minutes. The resources below help you prevent the emergency altogether — and know your options calmly when it's over.

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