The plaza containing the CFE arena was evacuated Tuesday night after a gas leak was reported in Knightro’s, a UCF campus dining hall, officials said.
Orange County Fire Rescue arrived at Knightro’s around 9:15 p.m. and blocked off East Plaza Drive. They also evacuated all students and employees from All Knight Study, the CFE Arena and Jimmy John’s because of the leak.
Knightro’s supervisor Kelly Underwood told KnightNews.com that she was sitting in her office around 9 p.m. Tuesday night when a strong smell of propane was so overwhelming that she thought she was going to pass out.
Underwood told KnightNews.com that she tried to air out Knightro’s, but the smell was so strong that she called 911 and evacuated all the employees. The dining hall was closed at the time and only employees were in Knightro’s when it was evacuated.
OCFR had all the pipes turned off around 10 p.m., shortly before employees were allowed back inside of the plaza to get their belongings.
Courtney Gilmartin, spokeswoman for UCF Police, said officials will be working through the night to test every pipe individually so they can find the leak and repair it.
UCF sent out an alert Wednesday morning notifying students the CFE arena and surrounding businesses were reopened for business.
A UCF Basketball game wrapped up shortly before the gas leak was reported. Gilmartin said less than 100 people in total were evacuated from the plaza, most being employees.
