While going through their workout routines at the North Grounds Recreation Center yesterday morning, several people were forced to evacuate after a small gas leak at a neighboring construction site.
No one was injured and the evacuation took only 20 minutes, said Benjamin Powell, battalion chief of the Charlottesville Fire Department.
Powell said the evacuation was very efficient and without major problems. Everyone followed the standard procedures.
He said a contractor was putting in an irrigation line for the North Grounds Recreation Center when a worker hit a gas line located nearby, he added.
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The contractor did not know where the gas line was located and was even digging in an attempt to avoid hitting gas pipes, when he inadvertantly hit a pipe and caused the early-morning rupture, Univesity Police Captain Michael Coleman said.
The leak prompted evacuation for fear of a possible explosion and injuries, said Ralph O. Allen, the University's director of environmental health and safety.
But it turned out there was no threat of explosion in this situation, since the leak was very small, Powell said.
After the building was evacuated, it was checked again with monitors to ensure that it was safe for people to return inside, before officials allowed people back inside the facility.
Allen said gas leaks such as this one are "not something that happens very often."
Usually gas leaks at the University are caused by problems in science labs or other classroom builidngs with chemicals, not at construction sites Allen said.
There has never been a gas leak at the North Grounds Recreation Center before. The University's Law and Darden Schools, which also are located in the North Grounds area, were not affected by the accident.
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