Classes are canceled for Thursday, including evening classes.

A gas leak occurred several blocks away according to Jeanie Dewhurst, senior executive assistant to Diablo Valley College President Peter Garcia.

Police services coordinated an evacuation of the entire campus around 3 p.m.

Students who were evacuated were directed towards Golf Club Road.

PG & E’s Tom Guarino said a 3-inch gas line was cut, possibly by a subcontractor that does concrete and asphalt restoration work.

Pleasant Hill police officer C. Sillers said the main gas line was at the corner of Ruth and Viking drives.

Police evacuated DVC, College Park High School and Valley View Middle School. People were also directed towards Pleasant Hill Park & Recreation.

Viking Drive, from DVC to Harvard Drive, was blocked. Pleasant Hill police officers directed foot and vehicle traffic.

Sillers said that PG & E will have the problem fixed by 5 p.m. today. 

Amanda Williams, 14, is a College Park High School student. She said she got out of school and her parents were called, like the rest of the students.

Some residents on Harvard Drive were unaware of the evacuation and were not asked to evacuate.

Some DVC students were also evacuated without much knowledge about the situation.

DVC student Michael Feyk, 21, was evacuated to the north side of campus from the Physical Science building.

“My teacher told me that the gas leak didn’t pose an immediate threat but they were going to evacuate campus,” Feyk said.

Twenty-two-year-old Elizabeth Schilling is one of the DVC students who were evacuated quickly without notice.

“No one has told me what’s happening,” Schilling said. She was in the music building when evacuated and left her flash drive on campus.

Administrators remained on campus for emergency purposes and to coordinate with police services.

The County Connection continued running buses until further notice, under the direction of police services. 

Sgt. Gary Brown of the Pleasant Hill Police Department said he estimated that 30 to 35 houses were evacuated by Ruth Drive starting at 3 p.m.

PG & E media representative Brittany Chord said a third-party contractor ruptured the pipe at approximately 2:45 p.m.

PG & E arrived on the scene at 3:15 p.m. They stopped the leak at 3:58 p.m.

As of 4:15 p.m., police services started to block off the main entryway on the north side of campus.

As of 4:20 p.m., the pipe was capped off.

As of 4:30 p.m., Viking Drive was open up to Ruth Drive. However, Pleasant Hill police officers still blocked Viking Drive up to the canal.

Brown said he estimated PG&E will finish its work between 9 and 10 p.m.

Chord said it will take five to six hours to restore service to the school.

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