Gables Hotel Evacuated Due To Gas Leak
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A Coral Gables hotel has been evacuated as a precaution as workers try to contain a gas leak.
Saturday around noon a crew working on a fiber optics line behind the Westin Colonnade, at 180 Aragon Avenue, hit a gas line.
Police evacuated the hotel and limited access to the area until the line can be repaired.
"We did evacuate the Colonnade Hotel and other businesses in the surrounding area just because of the high explosion hazard," said Coral Gables Fire Battalion Chief Carla Rossby. "Turns out it's a four inch gas line, it's a substantial leak."
"All of a sudden we see police officers come in and the alarms are going off and we are told hey we have to evacuate the building," said Vitto Mena who left the Colonnade.
The smell of gas spread for several blocks and impacted two wedding parties and an optometry conference.
"They were telling us every half hour they expected it to be resolved pretty quickly but by 3 o'clock they said we have no idea," said Robert Sherrin.
Sherrin and the others made the best of it.
"A little bit of an inconvenience but everyone is okay and nobody is injured," said Sherrin. "Nobody got sick that I know of from the smell."
Police said no one would be allowed back into the hotel until the leak was found and repaired.
