MORGAN COUNTY
The Marshalls and Harbor Freight stores in Madison were forced to close early on Jan. 27 due to concerns about a potential gas leak in neighboring units.
The Madison Fire Department (MFD) initially dispatched to Marshalls after receiving a call at 2:55 p.m. for a fire alarm with water flow, triggered by the shopping center’s sprinkler system. The incident occurred when two of the store’s exterior sprinklers burst due to frigid temperatures.
Madison Fire Marshal Gene Porter said upon arriving at the shopping center, the first responders encountered a strong gas smell. He mentioned they received a call from dispatch around the same time regarding other tenants who had raised the same concern.
“We weren’t sure at that time if [the two incidents] were connected or not,” Porter said. “So, we evacuated the entire complex, per our protocols, until we could figure out what was going on.”
While investigating the scene, MFD encountered a gas leak on a rooftop unit of the Harbor Freight portion of the building, which was ultimately the source of the smell.
Porter said the two incidents were unrelated and occurred at the same time by coincidence.
“As of right now, we shut the sprinkler system off to both Harbor Freight and Marshalls because they’re on a shared sprinkler system,” Porter said. “The property owner has crews out there working on that, and a local contractor has addressed the gas leak.”
Since the incidents occurred externally, both businesses reopened as scheduled the next day. Porter said the leak occurred in the unit serving the store’s main area, so they shut off the gas line until repairs took place on Jan. 28.
Following the recent incident, MFD placed Marshalls and Harbor Freight on fire watch for the following day, meaning a fire department employee was present at both locations during store hours.
According to Porter, the building includes a firewall that separates the units adjacent to both the Marshalls and Harbor Freight, so the fire department allowed those businesses to resume normal operations.
“We sent people down through there with our gas meters to check the gas levels in each of those occupancies, and then as we cleared them, we allowed them to come back into that space,” Porter said. “We tried to minimize the amount of time they were not in their units and not able to operate the business.”
Even though the situation was not as difficult as initially expected, Porter says that it was important to go “overboard” with safety precautions. He explained that gas leaks can result in serious damage and ignite explosions, resulting in serious injury or death.
“We have had other houses around in the state, where people have actually been killed because of either natural or liquified petroleum gas built up in the house,” Porter said. “That’s why we were telling people yesterday when they evacuated to leave and not to cut off any light switches because you don’t want to create a spark that may ignite it.”