Gas Leak in Grey Nuns Kitchen

What Was All the Commotion About?

NewsBriefCallista Mille — Published December 6, 2022 2 minutes

No alarm was sounded, yet security guards and firefighters arrived at the scene to respond to the  reported gas leak.

Concordia Spokesperson Vannina Maestracci stated that the gas leak occurred when “an oven gas entry was accidentally moved.” The kitchen staff member who witnessed this allegedly minor leak called Concordia security immediately as soon as he noticed the accident. The area of the incident was ventilated right after the valve was closed. 

“As soon as it happened, it was taken care of right away,” described a kitchen staff member. “We asked the director to come by, he checked it, we got security and everything was taken care of professionally and we all went back to work within 20 minutes.” He also said  that staff members acted as soon as they “heard a hissing” sound and noticed “a little bit of smell.” 

According to Stéphanie Lorrain, spokesperson from the Montreal fire department, about 30 firefighters were called as a precaution to make sure the incident was resolved and no further issues were present. The department reported to security that no evacuation or alarm was necessary. 

However, this didn’t stop distress among students in the building as fire trucks remained parked outside for those 20 minutes. Some students even smelled a slight presence of gas in the air as they walked out onto the hallways to see the commotion, only to be reassured from security that there was no major issue to worry about. 

The Concordia Alert System for Emergencies emailed the residents a follow-up to inform them that there was “no risk for occupants” and the leak was fixed, after an initial email saying they would evacuate people. No students or staff were harmed during the event.

This article originally appeared in Volume 43, Issue 8, published December 6, 2022.