Kerra Noyes and Lieutenant Tony Shaw put away the ventilation fan after clearing Town Hall of elevated levels of gas. (Photo by Stephen Into)
At about 5 p.m. last Tuesday, Oct. 16, a Keyspan technician working on the boiler at Town Hall noticed the smell of gas leaking, and upon taking a meter reading on the air in the building, discovered a gas level of 20 percent, according to Fire Chief Robert Mignard. A call was placed to the Harvard Fire Department and people in the building were advised to “leave now!” according to Town Clerk Janet Vellante.
Mignard said there has been an ongoing issue with the smell of gas at Town Hall.
“I’ve been there many times,” he said, “but there was never enough to detect.”
The Fire Department was last called to the site Oct. 2.
Mignard said that, although the high level of gas in the air was “actually too rich to burn,” the situation “had the potential to be very serious.”
Mignard said that gas isn’t toxic in the way that carbon monoxide is, but because it displaces oxygen, it could cause breathing difficulties for people exposed to high concentrations of it for any length of time. However, he said, “No one [in the Town Hall] complained of headaches or dizziness.”
Responding to the call, fire personnel opened the doors and windows, set up fans, and ventilated the building for about an hour.
Mignard said the problem was determined to have been caused by sand in the meter box by the back door. “We’re reasonably sure it’s solved now,” he said.
