Rob Young at the scene of the gas leak on Front Street. (Jacob Pierce)
A leak to a 2-inch gas line in between the Museum of Art and History and the Jedzebel clothing store forced the Santa Cruz Fire Department to evacuate a number of businesses on Tuesday afternoon, May 22.
“I don’t know how it occurred, and we’ve got the building surrounded and have been working on getting it evacuated,” Fire Battalion Chief Rob Young said earlier this afternoon.
Department crews evacuated Jedzebel, El Palomar Restaurant, Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting and the museum.
MAH membership coordinator Karen Bush says education coordinator Ashley Adams smelled gas inside the museum. Staff soon called the fire department, which responded quickly.
“The Fire Department came right away, which is great,” says Bush, also the museum’s public relations coordinator. “They took it seriously.”
After blocking both sides of the street, the department hopes to soon restore traffic to the southbound lane. Young says the street won’t be totally clear until the leak has been fixed. Pacific Gas & Electric, which is currently working to repair the leak, doesn’t know when that will be.
“It’ll be an hour minimum,” Young said just after 1pm, “and it could be a lot longer if they run into a lot of problems.”
