A gas odor coming from the Arrillaga Family Dining Commons parking lot prompted an investigation by PG&E early Thursday morning. The odor was confirmed to be a small gas leak, but due to its minimal size no evacuation of the area was necessary.

All students were notified of the leak via Stanford’s emergency alert system and students living in Toyon, Branner and Crothers received frequent updates via email on the status of repairs throughout the day.

In order to find and fix the leak, a section of the Arrillaga parking lot was excavated by PG&E workers and students were asked to avoid the area. Students were also offered ear plugs by the R&DE Student Housing front desk in order to help them cope with the noise coming from the maintenance site.

At around 12:30 p.m., PG&E announced that they were shutting off one of the gas lines, which cut off heating in Branner and Toyon, though it did not prevent hot water from running. However, in the midst of repairs, a water line was accidentally hit, temporarily shutting off water in Toyon and Branner in the early afternoon.

The water line was again functioning after an hour, and plumbing in Toyon and Branner was restored. The R&DE Student Housing front desk reported that the gas leak would be repaired by 11:30 p.m., with heating becoming fully functional shortly afterward.

Contact Pascale Elisabeth Eenkema van Dijk at pevd ‘at’ stanford.edu.