UPDATE: 3:15 p.m. Update with Fortis comment
Emergency crews from the city of Castlegar have left the scene of an elementary school with a suspected gas leak and have handed over managment of the situation to FortisBC Gas.
Castlegar Fire Chief Sam Lattanzio says the problem seems to originate from outside of Twin Rivers Elementary school.
“We’ve transferred command to FortisBC,” he says. “The issue was external issue to the school.”
Lattanzio says there were no problems withe the evacuation of the building. Students were moved to other locations in the area.
“Everything went as planned, as per the School District #20 evacuation procedures for this event.”
“We’ll let the school re-occupy the building once [a Fortis crew] has completed their inspection,” he added.
An official with FortisBC said inspectors for the company found a small gas leak at the meter outside the building.
The meter was shut down and the building was deemed safe to re-enter.
Related: Repeated gas leaks at Castlegar Primary raise concerns