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A Dublin grocery store was still closed to customers on Monday after a natural gas incident the day before, with crews continuing to work on the malfunction that caused the leak in hopes of securing the building.
The Alameda County Fire Department responded late Sunday morning to reports of a gas leak at the Whole Foods location in the Persimmon Place shopping center on Dublin Boulevard, according to ACFD officials. Upon inspection from the fire crew, a leak was detected and employees and shoppers were asked to evacuate.
The Dublin store remained closed as of mid-afternoon Monday as crews continued to work inside the building, ACFD officials said. No injuries were reported due to the incident.
According to the ACFD dispatch, a call for a possible natural gas leak at the store was received around 11:23 a.m. Sunday. Fire crews arrived on site at 11:28 a.m.
The crew detected the leak in one of the store’s refrigeration units and immediately began evacuating the premises, according to ACFD. Fifteen store employees and dozens of shoppers were made to leave the building for their safety.
“Investigators found a haze in the building which was believed to be CO2. A hazmat team responded,” ACFD public affairs manager Cheryl Hurd said. “It is believed that a malfunction shut down the system which caused the CO2 tank to purge inside the store.”
The hazmat team then used meters to check for additional leaks on the roof and get a reading for the inside of the building, Hurd said.
“After finding normal readings, techs were allowed back into the building to work on the system,” added Hurd.
County officials were unable to give an estimate on when the store will reopen as crews are still actively working within the building to fix the malfunction that caused the leak, according to Hurd. Clearance from the Alameda County Health Department is needed to grant staff and public access.
