Gas Leak Leads to Evacuation of Estabrook School Grounds

Construction crews working on the new Estabrook School struck a gas line Thursday afternoon, causing a leak and prompting the evacuation of the old building.

Members of the Lexington Fire and Police departments responded to the school, along with the gas company, and the area around the Grove Street school was evacuated as a precaution. The leak was reported around 2 p.m., and shortly before 3, National Grid was responding to the scene to shut off the gas.

With June 20 as a half-day of school, most of the elementary school’s students had left for the day prior to the gas leak, but those who were still there for the extended day program were taken by bus to Hastings School, a Lexington Police spokesperson said.

Crews broke ground earlier this year on the new school in fall 2012, marking the start of construction on a roughly $40 million-project roughly two years after the discovery of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the current building just before the start of the 2010-2011 school year.

In March of this year, there was a "topping off" ceremony for the new building, which, according to the school's website, is tentatively planned for a February 2014 opening.