By Tony LaRussa
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Copyright 2006 Tribune Review Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
Emergency officials in Monroeville and Wilkins Saturday responded to a number of calls reporting a strong smell of natural gas at a mall and two retailers, but officials could not detect any leak.
Monroeville firefighters and paramedics were called to the Monroeville Mall along William Penn Highway shortly after 5 p.m. when a caller to 911 complained of a natural gas odor near the J.C. Penney department store in the mall.
However, firefighters using portable gas detection equipment found no gas leak, said fire chief Brian McCollum.
As a precaution, an emergency crew equipped with sophisticated gas detection equipment was dispatched from Dominion Peoples gas company, but it also found no evidence of leak, said Elmore Lockley, a spokesman for the utility.
“At no time was there any sort of official evacuation of the mall,” Lockley said. “However several people left on their own complaining of burning eyes and difficulty breathing,” Lockley said. “We checked inside the mall, outside and on surrounding streets, but found no gas leak whatsoever.”
Emergency officials said several people were checked outside the mall by paramedics, but none required treatment. One person was transported to the hospital, McCollum said, but he did not know if that was related to the reported odors.
Around 45 minutes after the incident at the mall, firefighters from Wilkins responded to a call about a natural gas smell near the Sears department store in Penn Center, which also is along William Penn Highway.
Wilkins firefighters responded a second time to the Sears store shortly after 7 p.m.
“Both times we checked the building with portable gas meters, inspected all visible natural gas lines, including lines by a nearby creek bed, and found all levels normal,” said Jason Petri, assistant fire chief.
The store was not evacuated, and there were no injuries, Petri said.
Also around 7 p.m., Monroeville firefighters responded to a call reporting natural gas in the air near the Target department store off Monroeville Boulevard.
The crew from Dominion did not find any evidence of a natural gas leak at either the Target or Sears store.