32 evacuated due to apt. gas leak

NEWARK, Del. - February 16, 2009 Firefighters were called to the apartments in the unit block of Fairway Road at 7:00 to investigate an odor of gas. Upon arrival they found a valve in the boiler room of Building 52, leaking natural gas. The level of gas in the building maxed out the meter readings on firefighters monitoring equipment.

9 apartments in the 11-unit building were occupied and those residents were evacuated. Residents of the 22 units in two buildings on either side were also evacuated.

Delmarva Power Company responded and turned off the gas and electric service to all three buildings. Firefighters ventilated the buildings and residents of the two adjoining buildings were allowed to return to their apartments within an hour and their service was restored.

The residents of Building 52 were allowed to return to their building but the gas and electric service will not been restored to the building while Delmarva determines the cause of the problem.

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