WHS gas leak prompts momentary evacuations

WALLACE — Students and staff at Wallace Jr./Sr. High School were evacuated from their building on Thursday morning after a gas leak was reported at the school.

According to Wallace School District Superintendent Todd Howard, the whole ordeal began around 7:45 a.m. on Thursday during a routine food service delivery when a motorized pallet jack clipped the building’s main exterior gas line.

The high pitch screaming sound, mixed with the tell-tale smell of the additive put into the gas, was enough to put staff on alert and get the ball moving on evacuating the building.

“It clipped the pressurized line pretty good,” Howard said. “We evacuated the teachers to the west-end staff parking lot, the leak was on the east side of the building and we could hear it from the other side of the building.”

While school administrators were busy evacuating the school, emergency personnel with the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and Shoshone County Fire District No. 1 were tasked with evacuating homes within a 2-square block radius of the school.

SCFD No. 1 Lt. Cyle Hanan states that the leak lasted for roughly 20 minutes before repair crews with Avista Utilities arrived on scene and shut off the gas flow. Since the damaged line was on the exterior of the building, most of the gas vented outside and away from the area.

It was a best/worst case situation for WHS, as the timing of the leak coincided with the time that buses usually drop students off for the day.

“We had kids arriving, but fortunately our communication tree went out pretty fast,” Howard said. “Technology was so helpful — I can’t imagine dealing with something like this 30 years ago. We were able to use our school messenger system, as well as social media platforms to make sure we got the word to as many families and students as possible. I hope that the happenings show the effort.”

Students who were at the school or en route via bus were evacuated to Silver Hills Elementary School in Osburn, where they were staged for roughly 45 minutes before they were allowed to return after the scene was cleared.

Howard also reported that after law enforcement made the decision to evacuate nearby residential houses, some of his staff stayed behind to help make sure that they caught any students who may be walking to school and turn them around for the time being.

Aside from a temporary smell of the natural gas additive hanging around, the school received no damage from the incident and no injuries were reported. WHS was without gas service for several hours until Avista was able to receive a repair part and install it that afternoon.

“A huge thank you to my staff, they did a good job organizing and getting people out of the area,” said WHS Principal Chris Lund. “It was a huge team effort.”