Schools

Gas Pipe Venting Causes Cautionary Evacuation of Southern Boulevard School

Strong smell of gas inside building kept children on the upper field for about an hour.

The smell of gas inside Southern Boulevard School Tuesday morning caused an evacuation until the building was safe to enter, school administrators and township police said.

The smell was caused by the venting of a gas pipe along Southern Boulevard and not from a gas leak, said Lt. Steven E. Hennelly, of the Chatham Township Police Department.

According to Hennelly, the Department of Environmental Protection notified the Chatham Township Police Department  Tuesday at 7:33 a.m., that Spectra Energy would vent a 36-inch gas pipeline from 7:30 until 10:30 a.m.

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"Then we received phone calls from concerned parents because Southern Boulevard School had been evacuated because of a strong gas smell in the building," Hennelly said.

A patrol officer went to the school at 9:38 a.m., to notify administrators about the pipe venting. Robbin Boehmer, a secretary at the school, said that the children were back in the building within an hour.

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Boehmer said that the students at the school were kept on the upper field until it was deemed safe to enter the building. School had resumed as usual by 10:45 a.m.

Spectra Energy could not immediately be reached for comment.


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