Investigators believe an unknown spark or flame may have triggered an explosion of built-up gases in a sewer line at Georgia Gwinnett College, where a food service worker was injured Monday, the school’s president said.
No explosive devices were discovered in connection with the 8 a.m. explosion, which occurred in a women’s bathroom in a building on the north side of campus.
Building A, the site of the explosion, was closed Monday and will be closed Tuesday as the investigation continues. That investigation may take days or weeks, President Stas Preczewski said in a statement.
Classes normally held in building A will be moved to other locations, the college said in a Twitter post. The facility houses classrooms and a food court.
“The building will not be reoccupied until I receive written clearance concerning its safety from the building’s owner, The University Financing Foundation,” Preczewski said in the statement.
Structural and utility engineers will be inspecting the building to determine its readiness for partial reoccupation.
Firefighters, responding to a call that a fire alarm had been pulled at about 7:40 a.m., came to the campus and didn’t initially find anything out of the ordinary. But as crews prepared to leave about 8 a.m., they heard the explosion, Gwinnett County deputy fire Chief Charles Wells told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Firefighters later found a woman, the food service contract worker, with burns and potential blast-related injuries. A witness saw a woman crawling out of a bathroom screaming.
“First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to and remain with an Aramark employee who was seriously injured in the explosion,” Preczewski said. “She is recovering at Grady Hospital in Atlanta.”
She is expected to survive, Wells said.
No one else was injured, Wells said.
Even though fire and explosive disposal units were on the scene, students were still allowed to enter the campus Monday. Classes continued in the other buildings on campus.
Only the Collins Industrial Way/Collins Hill Road access to campus was closed until further notice. All other access roads to the campus were open.
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