Three adults and one child were taken to the hospital for evaluation after someone reported a possible gas leak at a school near 14th Street earlier this morning.
The D.C. Fire and EMS hazmat unit was called to the St. Augustine Catholic School (1421 V St. NW) to investigate the reported leak around 8 a.m. today.
Firefighters initially said five people were possibly sickened during the incident, but only four were taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Hazmat crews searched the building but did not find evidence of a gas leak.
@dcfireems 4th patient, adult, has requested to go to hospital. Gas in school cafeteria shut down as precaution. Incident under control.
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) December 13, 2016
“All meter readings are negative,” said D.C. Fire spokesman Vito Maggiolo.
Photo via Twitter / D.C. Fire and EMS
A Washington Gas crew responded quickly to a natural gas leak near Meridian Hill Park during last month’s blizzard and kept the area safe, a company spokesman said today in response to a community leader’s highly critical account of the utility’s work.
Commissioner JonMarc Buffa of the Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission on Wednesday blasted Washington Gas for a lack of public notification about the Jan. 24 leak near 16th and Belmont streets NW and for what he considered a slow response by the company to resolve the problem. Locals “smoking on 16th Street could have blown themselves up,” he said then.
Jim Monroe, a Washington Gas spokesman, told Borderstan in an email that his company took the leak seriously and worked hard to fix it quickly and safely.
“Washington Gas responded quickly to this incident, one that occurred during an unprecedented winter storm, and took immediate action to ensure the safety of the area,” Monroe said. “Washington Gas personnel stayed on site to ensure safety until the pipeline repair was completed.”
(Updated at 12:55 p.m. Friday) Anyone smoking outside near Meridian Hill Park during last month’s blizzard was extremely lucky to have made it through the storm unscathed, an Adams Morgan community leader said last night.
Natural gas started leaking near 16th and Belmont streets NW on Jan. 24, filling the nearby Beekman Place gatehouse with fumes and making it “uninhabitable,” Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C commissioner JonMarc Buffa said. Washington Gas workers didn’t get the leak fixed until Jan. 26, helping eliminate a gas odor that locals could smell from Florida Avenue to Crescent Place NW, he said.
“Folks walking down the street smoking on 16th Street could have blown themselves up,” Buffa told residents at an ANC meeting.
