Philadelphia: Gas Leak Causes Park Hyatt Evacuation

by KYW's Marcy Norton

A center city hotel and nearby apartments were evacuated as a precaution when Philadelphia Gas Works officials plugged a gas leak.

PGW Kevin Boyle says the utility and city fire officials agreed the Park Hyatt Hotel needed to be emptied around 10:30 p.m. Saturday when a significant level of fumes leaked into the building. The first reports of a gas odor in the 1400 block of Walnut Street came in just after 9 p.m. Boyle says it's not clear why the high pressure main between Broad and 15th sprung a leak.

"We're dealing with a steel pipe that was put into the ground about 12 years ago. It would be extremely unlikely that this would have ruptured. We estimate possibly there was something of an outside nature that may have caused the leak," Boyle said.

Peco Energy officials say early reports the leak was triggered by a transformer malfunction were unfounded.
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-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), March 13, 2000