Gas leak prompts evacuation
By Andy Gates - Argus Observer
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:59 PM PDT
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| A gas leak at Ontario’s Home Depot forced a short evacuation Tuesday evening. There were no injuries in the incident. |
ONTARIO - Home Depot sells materials to construct everything from a house to a toilet, but Tuesday night the store in Ontario sprung a serious leak.
A fork-lift apparently broke a natural gas line connected to a heater inside Home Depot and sparked an evacuation that lasted about 30 minutes for store employees and an hour for the general public, Ontario Fire & Rescue Chief Terry Mairs said. Ontario police said the initial call came in at 5:48 p.m. from a store employee.
The evacuation affected customers and about 20 employees. The natural gas leak situation could have been dangerous, Mairs said, and it was a unique event for the large commercial business. A spark from a car or a lighted cigarette could ignite with natural gas, Mairs said, which is why law enforcement officers from the Oregon State Police, Ontario Police Department and the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office were called to direct traffic and people away from the store. Natural gas leaked into the store for about five to 10 minutes, Mairs said.
The gas was shut off, Mairs said; however, the line had not yet been fixed by the time employees re-entered. There were no injuries in the incident, but one employee complained of lightheadedness, Mairs said. With good ventilation, natural gas can be hastily cleared out of a building, Mairs said. Ontario HazMat and two fire engines also responded to the incident. he said.
No Dhimmi wrote on Aug 14, 2009 9:38 PM:
And this isn't "racist," because Islam is not a race, anymore than Communism or Nazism are races, both of which killed far fewer people than Islam.
Disgusting. "