Published: November 05, 2009 09:43 am      

Anything but normal for senior site

The scene outside of the Pauls Valley senior citizen center was anything but normal Wednesday morning when the facility had to be evacuated because of a suspected carbon monoxide or natural gas leak.

First responders found a handful of people outside in the parking lot in need of medical attention as other people at the site in Wacker Park were wondering what had happened.

Authorities initially said they weren’t sure what caused the incident that resulted in three kitchen workers being taken to the local hospital for treatment.

“They thought it was a carbon monoxide leak, but you couldn’t smell that. Carbon monoxide doesn’t leave an odor,” Pauls Valley Fire Chief Joe Eddy said.

“I don’t know what could have caused it. Right now we don’t know what it was,” he said moments after the evacuation.

Later in the day Pauls Valley City Manager James Frizell said natural gas might have been the culprit.

“It appears it could be related to possibly a natural gas leak,” Frizell said. Workers from Oklahoma Natural Gas tagged the site, Frizell said, “which means there’s a potential leak.”

Work to determine and repair the leak began almost immediately. Until the repairs are made the local center will remain closed.

“Worst case scenario is it could stay closed until Monday,” the city manager said. “It could take them that long to locate the leak and fix it.”

The three kitchen employees were beginning preparation work for the daily meal when they claimed to smell the odor of a burning electrical item. The odor then apparently turned to a petroleum type of smell.

“A petroleum smell is what they called it,” Eddy said.

Then the trio claimed they began to get headaches, followed by upset stomachs and then the clincher when they became light-headed.

Moments later the workers and a handful of seniors inside the center went to the parking lot, where some received immediate attention such as oxygen supplied by masks.

Those same workers later said, when specifically asked by authorities, they hadn’t used any cleaning products before the incident began.

After the building was cleared, firefighters checked the entire interior.

“We went through the building with a four-gas monitor and didn’t pick anything up,” Eddy said.