An Oak Harbor man was airlifted with a serious eye injury Wednesday evening after he allegedly fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a fence off East Crescent Harbor Road.

The crash took out a regulator station operated by Cascade Natural Gas, causing the evacuation of at least 40 homes in base housing at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

Mark Francis with Washington State Patrol said John G. Romanski, 65, of Oak Harbor, was driving eastbound on Crescent Harbor Road after “a long day of medical things going on.”

His wife, Nancy C. Bolin, 68, was the passenger and allegedly told police Romanski fell asleep, Francis said.

Romanski’s 2004 Acura MDX went off the road, struck a cable box, the regulator station and a chain link fence that surround a water tower.

Francis said the water tower was on base property and the Navy called for a half-mile evacuation around the crash site.

Both Romanski and Bolin were wearing seatbelts, but a fence post struck Romanski in the eye, Francis said, but he was unsure if it hit or impaled the eye.

“It was serious enough they airlifted him to Harborview (Medical Center and Hospital in Seattle),” Francis said. “There was concern about possible sight loss in the one eye.”

Chief Marv Koorn from North Whidbey Fire and Rescue confirmed part of the fence came through the windshield and hit Romanski in the eye.

Romanski was airlifted from Crescent Harbor Elementary School, where 40 families from base housing were also evacuated to until Cascade could cap the gas line.

Mark Hanson, a spokesman for Cascade Natural Gas, said the regulator station controls the pressure of gas as it goes out to distribution lines.

In all, 325 customers lost gas service Wednesday evening, a majority being base customers.

Hanson said the regulator was repaired about 2 a.m. and then service technicians started going door-to-door Thursday morning to check and relight pilot lights. Some customers did not have service as of Thursday afternoon.

“The goal is to have everything done today,” he said.

A spokesperson for Harborview said Romanski was in stable condition as of Thursday afternoon.

Francis said Romanski faces a charge of negligent driving in the second degree, a non-criminal charge.

No drugs or alcohol are believed to be contributing factors of the crash, he said.

Koorn said 11 agencies assisted in the incident from local, county and Navy agencies.

“There were a lot of agencies, a lot of coordination, but it went very well,” he said. “It was seamless.”