Published: August 26, 2009 07:12 pm      

Gas leak forces student evacuation

VIDOR — A gas leak Wednesday afternoon forced the evacuation of several hundred students at the high school campus.

Shortly after 2 p.m., personnel from Orange County Emergency Services District 1 responded to the call of a gas leak at Vidor High School. Although the gas leak did not disrupt the entire campus, the main building facing Orange Street had to be evacuated. This two-story building, known as sixth wing and seventh wing, contains many math classes and science classes and science labs.

According to Sally Andrews, Vidor Independent School District director of community relations, all students in this building were relocated to the auditorium while emergency personnel investigated the leak.

“It appears we had a gas leak in one of the science labs,” said Dr. Joe Burns, Vidor ISD superintendent. “Someone smelled something they thought was gas, and the building was evacuated.”

Burns said Centerpoint Energy was called to the scene as well and shut off all gas lines running into the building.

“They checked everything out but could not find a leak, so they began turning on the valves one at a time until they found an open valve, which appears to have been the cause,” Burns added. “Everyone did what they were supposed to do in this situation.”

Jerry Aldridge, interim chief of Orange County ESD 1, said emergency personnel were on scene if needed, but since no immediate gas leak was detected, the call did not require much assistance once Centerpoint Energy arrived.



Tommy Mann Jr. is a reporter for The Orange Leader. He can be reached at 409-883-3571, Ext. 2619 or tmann@orangeleader.com