Gas Leak Nearly Clears Mall

Workers preparing two restaurants in the former Filene's Department Store space at Danbury Fair mall hit a small gas line Wednesday, sending natural gas into the air and closing one entrance to the mall.

The gas was blown away from the mall itself, said Assistant Fire Chief Stephen Williams, who said, for once, everything went right.

"The wind blew it away from the mall. We were starting to evacuate eight or 10 stores, but Yankee Gas showed up very, very quickly, and got it under control," Williams said. 

Williams said he had about 22 firefighters on the scene, divided in half, with 11 working to clear the area near the leak, and the others working on the Food Court side to move people out.

"Luckily, it was a short duration," Williams said. "We stopped construction. We closed the entrance near Filene's and we started to evacuate eight or 10 stores."

That evacuation effort ended almost immediately, Williams said, because Yankee Gas shut off the line, and firefighters checked air outside the mall, in the corridors behind the stores, in the stores and in the common areas. No gas was found inside the mall itself.

"We weren't able to find anything," Williams said. "Luckily the wind was in our favor."