The strong smell of natural gas seeped into buildings on the west side of campus Thursday morning due to a major gas main bursting.
The leaking gas caused students and staff to evacuate buildings on campus, including Agricultural Engineering, Plant Sciences, Moore Hall and Biochemistry.
According to Dan Schroeder, a university service associate working in the Biochemistry building, everything underground on campus should be mapped carefully, but a construction project adjacent to the Biochemistry building accidentally caused damage to an underground water pipe.
Construction was working on a new sewer and they hit a water line, which filled the trench up with water and mud,"" Bernadette Galvez, public information officer for MFD said. ""It then broke the gas line.""
Although the event occurred at 10:00 a.m., university officials sent WiscAlert e-mail and text messages at approximately 11:50 a.m., cautioning students to avoid traffic areas near the building and the surrounding area.
The building's air intake system continued to filter the gas from the punctured pipe into the neighboring buildings until occupants noticed the smell of natural gas.
""The air-handling systems in the buildings were turned off. Our best course of action was for them to turn off the ventilation system."" Lt. Michael Newton of Emergency Management & UW-Madison System Continuity of Operations said.
As soon as they realized there was a problem, the staff in the Biochemistry building called the UW Police Department, the Madison Fire Department and Madison Gas and Electric, who all quickly fixed the problem at the scene of the gas leak.
According to Schroeder, MG&E turned off the gas and put in a new section of pipe to eliminate the dangerous fumes.
Students and faculty re-entered the Biochemistry building approximately two hours after officials started the evacuation.
""The university is trying to be extremely careful with these kind of things,"" Schroeder said. ""It may have been, in some people's minds, an overreaction, but they just did not want anything to happen.""
Though the situation was a precautionary action, UW-Madison officials were focused on ensuring the safety of students and faculty.
""UW did a really good job. UW police and the students all cooperated and contributed to the ease of the situation,"" Galvez said.
