On Tuesday Sept. 8 in the cafeteria dining halls, a journalist student thought he smelled leaking gas and so alerted the authorities. The campus police evacuated the dining hall immediately and the fire department and San Diego Gas and Electric (also known as SDG&E) were contacted.

When the fire department arrived they scoured the building but detected no trace of gas. San Diego Fire Captain Hartman said, “. not to turn off the gas. We couldn’t find anything.” After the firefighters left, a plumber from SDG&E came to the campus, the authorities simply wanting to double-check that all was well. Plummer Jim Hawn went over the inside, outside and all the piping of the cafeteria using a machine called a “sniffer”, but also found no leaks and no gas.

The evening Sergeant of campus police said, “It dissipated very quickly, and whatever it is isn’t there anymore.” Before leaving, Mr. Hawn said that checking on the school in the morning would definitely be priority number one. The building was reopened for entry at 4:45 after being closed for about an hour.