Gas leak leads to early release for Saugus schools staff

SAUGUS – School Administrators got a half day Friday after a gas leak sent them out for an early recess, which later led to an early dismissal, closing the Roby School for the day.Superintendent Richard Langlois said he was out of the building at the time but staffers noticed the strong odor of gas in the building around 8 a.m.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said Building Maintenance Supervisor Ralph Mattarese went over to investigate and was followed by the Fire Department.Fire Chief James Blanchard said his men metered the building along with a neighboring laundromat, the Town Hall Annex and the American Legion Hall.”But the school building was the only place we found gas and we ordered them to leave,” he said.Blanchard said not everyone thinks to call the Fire Department when they smell gas in a building but they should.”They usually call the gas company then they wait,” he said. “We have meters that read four different types of gas. When we get a call we can go in, meter for gas and make a determination.”After the Fire Department cleared the building Blanchard said National Grid came, opened up the street and found the leak. He said the gas company generally views the evacuation as unnecessary but Blanchard wondered, “why would you take a chance on that? We don’t.””It could have been a disastrous situation,” Bisignani said. “We have Ralph monitoring the building.”Langlois said it’s not likely a lot of work would have been accomplished anyway given the smell of gas that permeated the building.”Plus they had to leave the doors and windows open to air it out,” he added.While everyone else headed home, Langlois headed back to the desk, it just wasn’t his.”I stayed in the district,” he said speaking from the high school. “I hid out here and there and ended up here.”Blanchard said it appeared that National Grid would have to re-sleeve a portion of the gas line but Langlois said he expected everything to be in order for Monday.