The EMU was evacuated at approximately 2:15 today after a construction lift bumped into the building’s gas main outside the Craft Center, according to Mark Butler, senior project manager for Lease Crutcher Lewis. The building is now clear.
“With live gas, you have to take action,” said Butler.
Josh Shields, Lease Crutcher Lewis construction worker, said all of the past alarms at the EMU were tests, but this time was a real emergency.
At 2:45 p.m., Eugene Fire Department had turned off the gas main and was doing a clean-air check. Emergency responders and EMU employees asked passersby and people in the building to walk across the street.
“You could almost smell the gas, there’s no denying that,” EMU board chair Miles Sisk said.
More to come.
