A leaking 500-gallon liquid propane tank closed Linton Hall School in Bristow for half of the school day Monday.
School will be open Tuesday. However, hot lunches will not be served because the gas had to be turned off during the emergency.
County emergency personnel responded to the private Catholic school at 9535 Linton Hall Road at about 11:20 a.m. and were at the scene with Hazmat crews until the leak was fixed at about 3:20 p.m., said Prince William County Department of Fire & Rescue spokesman Randy Earl.
The leak occurred after a trash truck backed up to pick up a trash container and hit a 25-foot chain that attached the tank to a pole, Earl said.
When the truck hit the chain, it overturned the propane tank and damaged the tank’s regulator.
The fire department partially activated its emergency operation center, bringing in a planning group to determine whether to evacuate a half-mile radius around the school. Crews were able to contain the leak fast enough that it was not necessary, Earl said.
The tank, which was recorded Monday morning at 80 percent capacity, lost half its contents before the leak was contained, Earl said. Workers temporarily fixed the leak with a wooden dowel until they were able to replace the regulator.
Linton Hall School Principal Liz Poole said the evacuation of the 205 students and 30 faculty members at the pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school went very smoothly during a scary situation. This was partially due to the fact that the school had just done a routine fire drill earlier that morning, Poole said.
The children were escorted across Linton Hall Road to the Old Dominion Baptist Church, where they stayed until they were picked up by their families.
“They [the church] were so gracious to us,” Poole said.
Christine Griffiths, the parent of fourth-grader Conor, first heard the news through a friend’s phone call and raced up to the church with her husband from her Victory Lakes suburban home. Leslie Church had already come to the school early to pick up her son Bradley, who’s attending the school’s morning pre-kindergarten program, when she was directed across the street to the church.
“Everything was fine but there were a few minutes of distress there,” said Church, who was waiting for more than an hour before she could take Bradley home.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement