Gas-line break forces students to evacuate
By Elise Franco
Austintown
Watson Elementary and Frank Ohl Intermediate schools were evacuated for about 30 minutes Friday morning after construction crews working on the new school building accidentally hit a gas line.
Students from those buildings were taken to Fitch High and Austintown Middle schools until the gas was turned off and the township fire and county health department could inspect the site.
Superintendent Vincent Colaluca said the incident occurred about 9 a.m., and students were out of the buildings and onto buses within two minutes of the break.
Colaluca said the evacuation was perfectly executed due to the quick work of teachers, building principals and bus drivers.
He said no gas was detected in either school, and students were cleared by the fire department to return to class at about 9:30 a.m.
Assistant Fire Chief Andy Frost III said the construction crew and the district administrators followed proper protocol.
“The crew immediately located the break and turned off the gas,” Frost said. “They evacuated the kids as a precaution because of the proximity of the break to the schools.”
Frost said the fire department ran gas-detection equipment in both buildings and cleared the buildings after receiving a reading of zero gas inside.
He said this type of accident is common at construction sites.
The district’s main gas line remains shut off, and Colaluca said it will be repaired over the weekend and inspected by Dominion East Ohio on Tuesday.