Leak closes Spruce blocks

The SEPTA subway-surface line and four blocks of Spruce Street were closed yesterday morning because of a gas leak investigators think began at the Getty gas station on 39th and Baltimore streets. Lieutenant Richard Brooks of the Philadelphia Fire Department said SEPTA called the department at approximately 4 a.m. After the on-site fire commander determined that the gasoline was not at an explosive level, he decided that evacuating the University buildings surrounding the area was not necessary, Brooks said. However, officials did decide to halt traffic on Spruce Street between 34th and 38th streets and to close the subway-surface line for the second straight day. Maser added yesterday that the gas leak was unrelated to Wednesday's SEPTA accident, in which 23 people were injured when two trolleys collided underneath Market Street. Jim Miller, University director of fire and occupational safety, who was called to the site early yesterday morning, said investigators knew the source of the leak came from "west of 38th Street." Therefore, he said, the "most likely cause was the Getty station." Miller added that he has been at the University for 11 years and that, to his knowledge, this is the "first time [a gas leak] happened." When notified of the gas leak, the Getty station immediately began pumping the gas out of its underground tanks, Getty Petroleum Engineer Alan Mack said yesterday at the station. After the tanks were emptied, the fire department flushed water through the tanks and the lines that run from the tanks to the pumps. The city's Department of Licenses and Inspections took over the fire department's investigation late this morning, overseeing a private contractors' testing of the station. John Millard, Getty territory sales manager, said that by 5 p.m., investigators determined that the lines were not leaking, but had not yet ruled out the underground tanks. Tests to determine if the tanks were indeed the cause of the leak were still continuing last night. Miller said that if the Getty station was not the source of the fumes then it will be a "long hard process to try to determine where the leak happened from." Millard said last night that the Getty station's tanks were inspected last summer, and that the station hopes to be open today. While the experts were trying to determine the source of the leak, trolley cars ran above ground on the outskirts of campus, bikes whizzed down barren Spruce Street, and students heading home for Spring Break were inconvenienced. "It pretty much destructs my whole schedule," said Wharton freshman Doug Lipton. "I can't even get a taxi close to where I am now. I have to walk close to four blocks." Staff writers Melissa Fragnito and Gayle Meyers contributed to this story.

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