West Virginia town was told to shelter in place due to gas leak; Students were told to evacuate

UPDATE 5:00 PM — After a Wednesday morning gas leak scare evacuated students and prompted a shelter-in-place for the town, 7News was able to speak to students and first responders to find out what happened at West Liberty.

The Ohio County Emergency Management Agency took command, protocols were put in place, and the problem was solved.

During class, at about 9:20, the fire alarm started to go off.”

Brittany Howard, Junior, West Liberty University

A power company crew was doing work outside College Hall.

And the bucket struck a gas line that fed the building. It was a high-pressure line that when it ruptured, gas started to spew inside the building and the surrounding area.”

Tony Campbell, Deputy Director, Ohio County EMA

People could smell and hear the leak.

There was some noise coming from the pipe itself because it was a high pressure line.”

Tony

Four buildings on campus were evacuated.

It really affected half of campus. So the upper half of campus was still operational. We would have been able to feed people.”

Joe Rodella, Chief Operating Officer, West Liberty University

The Town of West Liberty and the elementary school were told to shelter in place, and that involves taking certain actions.

Well with the shelter in place order is basically to turn off your heating and air conditioning system, close all your windows and that, and don’t have any kind of open flames around outside there until those concentrations of gas have passed.”

Lou Vargo, Director, Ohio County EMA

The leak was sealed, and the building was ventilated.

We’re told the students may have joked a little about the subject of, well, gas!

It’s more so like on the funnier side but when you think about like fires and stuff, that’s when it really starts to get dangerous. So I’d say, gas protocols are definitely not to be taken lightly.”

James Armstrong, Freshman, West Liberty University

No one really understood how dangerous a gas leak would be. So a lot of people had some concerns about, oh is it gonna explode or not. But our professor was like no it’s not gonna explode.”

Brittany Howard

At all times, the town of West Liberty was safe, and also, the kids at the school were safe, but we were just very cautious as this gas cloud went through West Liberty.”

Lou

They say the leak occurred at 8:45 a.m., and it was under control in approximately two hours.

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UPDATE 11:05 AM: College Hall is re-opened at this time. All campus facilities have returned to normal activity.

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UPDATE 1030 AM: College Hall will remain closed at the University. All other buildings are reopened.

Classes in the ASRC, Fine Arts Building and Arnett Hall will resume for night classes tonight. Officials have cleared these buildings to reopen.

The gas company is still completing repairs to the line that was damaged.

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UPDATE: Residents in the town of West Liberty no longer have to shelter in place. Officials say all restrictions at West Liberty campus are still in place.

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A town in West Virginia was told to shelter in place.

The town of West Liberty, West Virginia was told to shelter in place due to a natural gas leak, according to the West Liberty Volunteer Fire Department.

The high-pressure line is located on campus near the football field. A text sent out by West Liberty University said workers were completing scheduled work for the power company and hit a gas line.

Buildings at the school were evacuated due to caution and students are safe at this time.

West Liberty Elementry is under a shelter-in-place due to the gas leak. As a precaution, the school had to turn off heating and cooling systems but will continue with instruction as planned

The road will be closed to traffic on University Drive from the top of Beta Hill around Arnett Hall. The road from the ASRC parking lots to University Drive at the intersection beside College Hall is also closed.

The ASRC, Fine Arts Building and Arnett Hall are closed on the campus of West Liberty. Students, faculty, and people on campus are to relocate away from the scene to the union or library.

Day classes in these buildings are canceled.

There is no timeframe on the repair.

This is a developing story, stick with 7News for updates and refresh this page.

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