Hundreds of UK students and staff were evacuated from the W.T. Young Library and surrounding residence halls due to a gas leak Monday.
University of Kentucky spokesperson Carl Nathe told reporters that a construction company backhoe ruptured a natural gas line on Hilltop Avenue near what will be the new Haggin Hall. Police and fire officials cordoned off a 500 ft. perimeter while Columbia gas workers repaired the leak.
"When it spews into the air, it's very dangerous. You don't want to have anything ignite and have a potential explosion or anything like that, so that's why the precaution," he said.
Nathe said the gas leak did not likely result in any canceled summer school classes, but the event did disrupt a sizeable area of campus.
"Right now, it's a relatively quiet time on campus, but the hundreds and hundreds of students that are in summer school at this time would tell you that it's quite inconvenient. But safety is first in a situation like this," Nathe added.
The campus-wide alert ended close to 2:20 pm.
A second unrelated water leak also occurred in the university’s Chemistry-Physics building Monday morning because of a burst pipe. The building was closed for the remainder of the day, moving more than a dozen classes to other facilities.
No injuries were reported with either leak.
