New Wal-Mart in West Virginia Has Gas Leak
Wal-Mart Open for Less Than a Week
It was Day 6 for the new Wal-Mart located on Hornbeck Road in Morgantown, West Virginia. Everything seemed to go
off with a hitch until someone busted the main gas line. Wal-Mart officials evacuated the store for more than a hour-and-a-half while Morgantown Fire Department Officials arrived at the scene.
The new Wal-Mart Supercenter opened last Wednesday, October 18, 2006, along with another Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened in Granville, WV on the same day. On Tuesday, October 24, a Wal-Mart associate was attempting to lift a pallet to the upper still in the back receiving room. While attempting to lift the pallet, the associate busted the main gas line to the store. Wal-Mart management immediately evacuated customers and employees.
"We weren't even allowed to go back and get our coats," said one Wal-Mart employee. About 30 minutes after the store was evacuated, Morgantown Fire Department arrived at the scene. Most customers left to go to the other new Wal-Mart store that opened last Wednesday as well. That Wal-Mart is located at the University Town Center on the other side of Morgantown (Granville). Other customers waited in the vehicles for the Fire Department to declare the Supercenter safe for re-entry.
While customers and employees were evacuated from the store, store management employees stood at the front crosswalk informing anyone that drove by of the gas leak and the store's temporary closure. They advised customer's that they weren't sure how long it would take to reopen the store and advised them of the other Wal-Mart's location.
Wal-Mart employees were allowed to go back in the store at 12:10 PM, a hour and 10 minutes after the evacuation. However, customers still weren't allowed back in the store. When the leak was discovered, store officials shut off the power to avoid anything from sparking and creating an explosion. Before customers were allowed to re-enter the store, store officials had to turn the power back on, one department at a time. They did this because they were afraid if they turned all of the power on at the same time, it would be too big of a surge for the store's electrical system to handle. Customers were allowed re-entry to the Supercenter at 12:40 pm, once all of the power was back on and the gas leak was corrected.
Published by Chad Stiles
I have a BA in Psychology and like to work with children. I also enjoy writing. View profile
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- "We weren't even allowed to go and get our coats" said one Wal-Mart employee.
- Wal-Mart was closed for an hour and 10 minutes before employees could reenter.
- Customers weren't allowed to renter for another 30 minutes, waiting for the power to be turned on