News

Methane causes ACB evacuation

Trying to find the source of a possible gas leak, Jeff Boster, safety specialist; Mike Nunez, assistant director of Campus Safety; and Luis Alvarez of the Gas Company search a room on the ground floor on the northwest corner of the ACB. It was determined that the smell was caused by a build up of methane gas in the sewage pipes. After evacuating the ACB, students and faculty were allowed back into the building at approximately 11:30 a.m. / photo by Gloria Diaz
Trying to find the source of a possible gas leak, Jeff Boster, safety specialist; Mike Nunez, assistant director of Campus Safety; and Luis Alvarez of the Gas Company search a room on the ground floor on the northwest corner of the ACB. It was determined that the smell was caused by a build up of methane gas in the sewage pipes. After evacuating the ACB, students and faculty were allowed back into the building at approximately 11:30 a.m. / photo by Gloria Diaz

Matt Griffin
Staff Writer

A full emergency evacuation of students and faculty occurred between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the Art and Communications building, after personnel issued a complaint about a pungent smell coming from the back of the building.

The first call was placed to campus security at approximately 10:05 a.m. when personnel initially smelled the methane.

No one experienced injury. However, Communications Assistant Eric Borer, who was not on campus at the time of the evacuation, later drove his wife, Mary Ann, home because she was feeling sick.

“It was that really heavy, skunky smell that natural gas has,” said Mary Ann Borer, a communications major.

Mary Ann Borer, who was in the ACB for a class, notified Professor of Communications Mike Laponis and Communications Department Secretary Janice Sullivan.

Communications Department chairman George Keeler said that the lower level of the building has always had a different smell.

“The ACB building smells like an outhouse and it must be fixed,” he said. “Fans and deodorant are not going to help the problem if there is a gas leak.”

According to Facilities Management Safety Specialist Jeff Boster who was on the scene, the source of the smell was the sewage pipes that run throughout the building.

“Due to spring break the pipes dried out causing the smell,” he said. “All they need to do was just be flushed through.”

Boster had the gas company check for leaks to be safe.

The Gas Company determined that instead of natural gas it was methane gas that was coming from the sewage pipes.

The Gas Company found one leak, but Boster said that it was not related to this emergency.

Tom Anderson contributed to this story.

Matt Griffin can be reached at mgriffin@ulv.edu.

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