Students were sent home for the day after a gas leak prompted the evacuation of Richmond Grade School, amid firefighters being called to multiple reported gas leaks in Richmond Tuesday.
The Richmond Township Fire Protection District responded around 11:56 a.m. Tuesday to Richmond Grade School, 5815 Broadway Road, for a report of an odor investigation.
Firefighters arrived and met with school officials who reported a smell of natural gas at the rear of the building near the boiler room.
The school had been evacuated prior to the fire department’s arrival, fire officials said.
Fire crews checked the building using metering equipment and detected trace levels of natural gas in the boiler room and surrounding maintenance rooms.
Nicor Gas was called to the scene and crews were able to isolate the affected area and ventilate it, fire officials said.
The school district closed the building for the remainder of the day and the Richmond Police Department assisted with traffic control for dismissal.
Fire crews were leaving the scene around 1:15 p.m. when they received three calls for reports of natural gas in homes in Richmond.
Fire officials said crews investigated the reports and Nicor was requested to two of the three homes for follow-up.
One of the homes had a possible leak in a supply to the water heater. The other two homes had no natural gas detected.
The natural gas valve stations on Route 173 and on Burgett Road were checked for work being performed by Nicor or WE Energies. No work was taking place at the time.
Following the four incidents, Richmond and Spring Grove firefighters have responded to numerous additional calls in the two towns for gas odors.
The cause of the incidents is currently unknown and Nicor is investigating.
The Richmond Township Fire Protection District said residents are urged to have working carbon monoxide detectors in their homes and businesses.