It wasn’t coming from Marie Mount Hall, McKeldin Library or Cole Field House. It wasn’t coming from the Edward St. John’s Learning and Teaching Center construction site, either.
Area firefighters spent more than an hour tonight combing the campus for a potential gas leak before determining there wasn’t one.
College Park Volunteer Fire Department first responded to reports of a gas leak in the Skinner Building at about 7:40 p.m., according to Prince George’s County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady. They then moved to Marie Mount Hall, where students and teachers in class at the time were evacuated from the building.
At about 7:50 p.m., firefighters walked out of the building and signaled that they could return.
But because an odor of gas hung in the air, fire departments received calls from various campus buildings about the potential leak, Brady said. A group of three firefighters from the Riverdale Fire Department received orders to walk from Marie Mount to McKeldin Library.
“Do you smell gas?” the firefighters asked students near the front desk on the first floor just after 8 p.m. When students said no, they left and searched the exterior of the library. Likewise, that search yielded negative results.
“When you have that strong an odor that’s in the atmosphere, everybody can kind of smell it from a pretty far distance,” Brady said.
So the Riverdale group walked in full gear uphill to the front of Anne Arundel Hall, then across the street from Cole Field House, then down Campus Drive past Stamp Student Union. Voices over the radio had speculated that the leak originated at the Edward St. John’s construction site.
“This is my workout for the month,” said James Richardson, Riverdale firefighter and EMT. “[This equipment] sure ain’t light.”
Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas, University Police spokeswoman, said afterward that despite checking all reported areas, the firefighters could find nothing of significance. At roughly 9 p.m., they cleared the scene, Brady said.
There didn’t appear to be any leak, Hoaas said, but Washington Gas responded to the scene. Evacuations were precautionary, and there is no danger, she added.
Hoaas said there are no leads as to where the strong odor came from.
Senior staff writer Jeremy Snow contributed to this report.