Warden High School locked down due to gas leak
Warden Police Chief Rick Martin communicates with other officials as fire crews and utility workers address a natural gas leak at Warden High School on Monday. The augur in the background is suspected of having caused the leak.
Grant County Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy photo
Warden High School was put into a shelter-in-place scenario Monday morning after construction crews working nearby damaged an underground natural gas line.
“The contractor was using an augur and I have unconfirmed information that one of the utility markers had been moved,” said Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman.
Foreman said no students, staff or construction workers were injured during the incident. Utility crews arrived about 30 minutes after the break occurred and shut off gas to the affected line so repairs could be made.
The school was put into a shelter-in-place mode as a precaution to ensure students and staff were safe. This means the doors and windows were closed and students ordinarily in portable classrooms were moved inside the main structure of the school as a safety precaution, Foreman said.
Once the scene was cleared and the gas line was cut off, students were provided with lunch and went back to their usual classroom schedules, Foreman added.