Gas Odor Prompts Evacuation of Theodore Roosevelt High

The odor of natural gas prompted administrators at to evacuate the building temporarily Monday.

The high school's fire alarm was pulled just before 2 p.m. Monday, sending students and faculty outside.

Kent Fire Capt. John Tosko said the department was already in the area checking for a gas leak after a prior call for a gas odor.

"What happened was, I think the odor had gotten drawn into the HVAC system at the high school, and they started smelling it all throughout the high school," Tosko said. "They pulled a fire alarm just to get the kids out of the building."

No leak was found near the school, so the fire department advised school officials to turn off the air intake on the ventilation system.

Kent City Schools Superintendent Joseph Giancola said in an email students and staff returned to the building shortly afterward.

Tosko said the odor was detected all along S.R. 43 as far south as Meloy Road on the Brimfield Township border. Kent contacted Dominion East Ohio gas and the Brimfield fire department, but neither reported any known gas leaks.

Tosko said the department did find a slight leak coming from an old gas well behind Monday.

"But nothing to cause that kind of odor," he said. "We never did find out where it was coming from. It definitely was a big cloud of gas. Sometimes we’ll get those. It’s not that weird."