Gas Leak Evacuates Chatham High School Friday

CHATHAM, NJ - The smell of gas in the Chatham High School Media Center caused a temporary evacuation of students and staff to Lafayette School Friday morning, according to officials.

Staff at Chatham High alerted authorities to a gas odor in the Media Center and the evacuation was performed while the fire department investigated.

"A staff member reported the smell of gas, we evacuated, the fire department and our maintenance staff identified a faulty valve on one of our HVAC units," Superintendent Michael LaSusa told Patch. "We shut off the valve and had PSEG verify that all was safe, and the students returned to the building."

According to officials, there will not be any heat in the library media center for the rest of the day, but that is the extent of the inconvenience.

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