Warden High School locked down due to gas leak
R. HANS MILLER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 10 months AGO
Warden Police Chief Rick Martin communicates with other officials as fire crews and utility workers address a natural gas leak at Warden High School on Monday. The augur in the background is suspected of having caused the leak.
Grant County Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy photo
Managing Editor Rob Miller is a 4-year U.S. Army veteran who grew up in Western Montana in a community about the size of Soap Lake. An honors graduate of Texas State University, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Brandee, and their three dogs, Draco, Pepper and Cinnamon. He has one son, William. During his free time, he enjoys photography, video games, reading and working on the house he and his wife bought in Ephrata. He is passionate about the First Amendment and educating communities. | February 15, 2022 1:00 AM
Warden High School was put into a shelter-in-place scenario Monday morning after construction crews working nearby damaged an underground natural gas line.
“The contractor was using an augur and I have unconfirmed information that one of the utility markers had been moved,” said Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman.
Foreman said no students, staff or construction workers were injured during the incident. Utility crews arrived about 30 minutes after the break occurred and shut off gas to the affected line so repairs could be made.
The school was put into a shelter-in-place mode as a precaution to ensure students and staff were safe. This means the doors and windows were closed and students ordinarily in portable classrooms were moved inside the main structure of the school as a safety precaution, Foreman said.
Once the scene was cleared and the gas line was cut off, students were provided with lunch and went back to their usual classroom schedules, Foreman added.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: In appreciation of educators ...
An experience I recently had with a school district, quite honestly, has left me gob-smacked a bit. I am in awe of the teachers and administrators at school districts throughout the region and what they have to deal with. Let me get back to the beginning, though. Journalists often cover a wide variety of topics and are constantly looking for ideas for stories that will matter to readers. As such, when we hear of events of interest, we sometimes ask to attend so we can either cover it, or, as in this case, learn how to cover a topic better.