Gas leak on College Green causes emergency evacuations

A gas leak caused by construction halted university life for almost two hours on Wednesday afternoon. Photo by Izzy Keller.

Parts of Ohio University’s College Green were temporarily closed off due to a gas leak this afternoon. The leak led to the closure of many university buildings located off of College Green, according to an Ohio Alert that went out to all students and staff.

Around 1:30 p.m., Alden Library and Cutler, McGuffey, Scripps and Chubb Halls were evacuated. The evacuation was originally met with confusion, with many thinking that it was a fire drill. 

University-wide texts and emails were sent around 2 p.m., the text explained that there was a gas leak on the National Pan-Hellenic Council Plaza construction site, located in the Scripps Hall Amphitheatre. The alert advised students and staff to avoid the area.

“I thought it was a drill. I was also going to be kind of mad if the building was on fire,” Margaret Fox, a junior at Ohio U, said. “It didn’t seem like anyone was super panicked anyway.”

Fox was on the library’s first floor when the alarm went off. She said that she first heard about the gas leak from word of mouth, rather than the university. 

Shortly after, Ohio University Police, Athens Firefighters and Columbia Gas arrived and began closing off areas of College Green near the gas leak. 

Scripps Hall was reopened around 2:30 p.m. and all other affected buildings were reopened around 3 p.m.

In a statement, Interim Senior Director of Communications Dan Pittman said that all activity has resumed to normal and all buildings are open.

“Cutler Hall, McGuffey Hall, Chubb Hall and Alden Library were evacuated out of an abundance of caution; however, no gas was detected in the buildings during the event. Columbia Gas quickly located the problem and shut off gas to the impacted line,” Pittman said.