Reports of a natural gas odor in the science area of Mountlake Terrace High School led to the evacuation of the school Wednesday morning around 9am.

Fire District 1 Public Information Officer Leslie Hynes said that because of the cold weather, the gymanisum was quickly cleared and deemed safe by firefighters and students are gathering the gym. Fire District 1 has firefighters and Puget Sound Energy are on scene with monitoring equipment and are currently going through the buildings seaching for any possible leaks.

We will update this page as more information is released.

UPDATE 10:15 AM:
Students are back in class now and still on the normal class schedule.

Also check out the Hawkeye, the MTHS student newspaper for more information and photos.

UPDATE 12:15pm:

Mountlake Terrace High School principal, Greg Schwab released this letter to parents concerning the evacuation.

Dear Mountlake Terrace Families,

I want to share with you the facts concerning a situation we experienced at school this morning. At approximately 8 a.m. a teacher detected a natural gas odor in a science classroom. As a precautionary measure, we immediately called fire officials and evacuated the building. Upon arriving, Fire District 1 was able to determine it was safe for students to wait in the gym while they continued to investigate the source of the odor.

After nearly two hours, fire officials determined there was a small leak that caused the initial odor. Students returned to class (third period) while PSE fixed the problem.

I want to offer my appreciation. At all times, our students were calm and behaved well. If you have any questions about this situation, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Greg Schwab
Principal