Gas leak at Port-of-Spain mall

On the first official working day of the year, among those who would have been hardest hit, were eating establishments in the mall’s food court which would have lost sales as the evacuation occurred during the lunch hour.

One owner told Newsday, “We will lose out in terms of sales, but there is nothing more important than being safe.” Jason Shields, Fire Sub-Station Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service’s (TTFS’s) Headquarters at Wrightson Road, Port-of- Spain, told reporters at the scene of the leak on Chacon Street that the TTFS got a telephone call just after noon. To their credit, he said, the security at the mall already had water running on the tank. They were running the water on the top of the tank but the firemen discovered that the leak was at the bottom.

However, the precautionary measures taken by the mall’s security staff would have averted major damage. Persons who were passing, he said, would have observed the leak, which looked like vapour, and smelled it. LPG is an odourless gas but the stench agent placed in it would have caused persons to detect the leak. Ramco Industries Limited, the supplier of the LPG, was notified and its personnel arrived over an hour and a half later to take away the cylinder.

Meanwhile, the gas was allowed to escape with water being doused on it until Ramco technicians arrived and temporarily sealed the breach.

“We had to evacuate Town Centre Mall for everyone’s safety,” Shields said noting that even persons at the Fair Chance Racing Service, located on the other side of the street, were asked to vacate the building to minimise the risks by persons who may have been smoking. Among those closing their businesses until the cylinder was removed were Capital Plaza, Daily News Limited - publishers of Newsday, and Kenny’s Sports Store.

A section of Chacon Street was also closed to traffic.

Ramco confirmed that the tank was among others being used by businesses in the food court, Shields said.

He said that the malls were closed to persons, not only on Chacon Street, but to those also using the Frederick Street entrance.

If it was a 20-pound cylinder, he said, it could have been immersed in water. But in this case, it could not have been done, so the gas was allowed to be expelled until Ramco technicians arrived and temporarily sealed the breach from which the gas was escaping.

After the tank was temporarily sealed, it was transported back to Cross Crossing in San Fernando under police escort.