Gym evacuated during game
Staff writer
People attending a middle school basketball game Thursday at Peabody-Burns were evacuated because of a suspicious odor.
An audience member noticed the odor, called the fire department, and notified Atmos Energy.
“We dispatched our employees out there, and they determined it was not a gas leak,” said Aaron Bishop, Atmos Energy manager of public affairs for Kansas. “We do encourage anyone who thinks they smell natural gas to do just that. We’ll investigate that.”
Peabody Fire Chief Colton Glenn said that when he got to the gymnasium, he helped school officials evacuate everyone in case the odor was natural gas. He also assessed the gymnasium with a carbon dioxide meter.
“I started evacuating everybody in case it was a natural gas leak,” Glenn said. “It was like sewage gas kind of smell.”
Glenn phoned a school maintenance worker, who said there had been an issue earlier in the day with a toilet beneath the bleachers. The problem had been fixed before the game, Glenn said.
Although the situation was not as bad as it could have been, it was a good opportunity for the school to learn to handle an evacuation, should one ever be needed in the future, Glenn said.
“Everybody walked out calmly,” he said.
People who smell an odor they suspect might be natural gas should contact authorities, Glenn said, even if it doesn’t have the traditional “rotten egg” scent that is added to natural gas to make it detectable.
“Don’t be scared to call 911 if you think you smell gas, and don’t be afraid to call the fire department,” he said.
He commended firefighters for their robust response.
Ten of the department’s 15 firefighters reported to the school Thursday night, he said.
Glenn is looking for two or three additional firefighters for the department.