PHOTO BY LEAH WANKUM / MANAGING EDITOR Warrensburg firefighters responded to Panhellenic Hall at 2:14 p.m. Thursday. The building was evacuated by 2:20 p.m. due to a gas leak.

By Leah Wankum
Managing Editor

UPDATED: Missouri Gas Energy has verified it is safe to enter Panhellenic Hall after the gas leak earlier Thursday afternoon.

UCM sorority members waited outside Panhellenic Hall Thursday afternoon as firefighters, Missouri Gas company workers and university staff responded to a gas leak in the building.

Officer Darrell Brinkley said Johnson County Dispatch was notified of the gas leak at 2:14 p.m., and the hall was evacuated by 2:20 p.m.

Battalion Chief Bryan Wilson of the Warrensburg Fire Department said the cause of the leak had not been determined yet.

“Everybody’s out of the building and the gas has been turned off,” Wilson said. “That’s all we know. The gas company is looking for the cause.”

Lori Dake, manager of environmental health and safety in the Department of Public Safety, told the girls waiting in the parking lot that they could wait in the Elliott Student Union until the hall was ventilated.

“It’s probably going to be a little while ’cause there is a very strong odor outside,” Dake said. “There is a very strong odor in the kitchen. Missouri Gas is here, fire department obviously is here. So until things get calmed down, I would suggest if you guys want to go hang out in the Union. We can get a hold of you that way, and then you’re not sitting around in the parking lot.”

Dake said the girls would not be allowed to enter the building until it had been cleared.

“Sorry, this is reality,” Dake said. “What did we learn from this event? Grab your bag, grab your shoes, grab your wallet.”

She said she practiced fire drills with the girls in Panhellenic Hall last year.

“It’s a fire drill, we practiced this,” Dake said. “And I always tell them, ‘Grab your stuff.'”

Chapter assistants in caution vests stood at the entrances of the hall to make sure nobody would go inside. Hillary Moore, Sigma Kappa member and chapter assistant in Panhellenic, said she was told to come to the hall and stand at an entrance a few minutes after dispatch was notified.

“It’s not a big deal, I don’t think,” Moore said.