A suspected gas leak shut the City Centre Mall in Thompson down briefly on the morning of Jan. 2 but it reopened for business by about 10:30 a.m.
A Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) vehicle was parked outside the Walmart entrance with lights flashing before leaving at about 10:30 a.m.
All the stores inside the mall remained closed at about that time, though customers were being allowed to enter the mall from the Walmart doors and several Safeway workers were returning to the store from the direction of Tim Hortons.
Thompson Citizen inquiries to the mall office were redirected to representative of Strathallen Properties, which owns the mall, who declined to comment.
“Management staff at the local Wal-Mart smelled what they believed to be a gas leak on Thursday morning, and contacted TFES to investigate,” said a statement from TFES deputy chief Steve Molloy sent out by the City of Thompson on the morning of Jan. 3. “The building was evacuated as a precautionary measure. Both TFES and Stittco Utilities responded to the call with monitoring equipment as per regular procedure. However, a sweep of the building did not detect the presence of any dangerous gasses or fumes in the building.”
