Gas leak prompts evacuation at east Vancouver storage facility

Vancouver firefighters and a hazmat team spent more than two hours at the scene of a gas leak Friday.

Someone drove into a gas meter, causing natural gas to leak into a self-storage facility, Vancouver Fire Department spokesman Joe Hudson said.

Firefighters were dispatched shortly after 11 a.m. to Northwest Self Storage at 2410 S.E. 164th Ave. Two fire engines and a battalion chief responded.

After fire crews learned what happened, a hazmat team was requested to assess the situation. The team detected concerning levels of gas in the air, which required an evacuation of the building, Hudson said.

The team remained on scene for two hours and 40 minutes to ensure the building was ventilated.

Vancouver police responded to the scene about a half-hour after the initial dispatch and shut down the southbound lanes of 164th Avenue.

No one was injured or hospitalized due to the leak.