A possible gas leak caused a major evacuation at the Art, Music and Drama buildings as well as at the Maroney Theatre at 2:15 p.m. yesterday, said University of Arizona Police Department Sgt. Rolf Averill.

“”I was sitting at my desk downstairs and a student came in telling me that she smelled gas. . . . What we think might have happened was a truck with a propane tank might have leaked the gas into the air, and it came into our building,”” said Wilma Pinedo, office specialist for the School of Art.

Robert Hershoff, an employee at the UA Museum of Art, said he smelled the gas as he was walking from the Center for Creative Photography near the Speedway Boulevard underpass.

The actual cause of the gas leak remains unknown, so the area around the Art building was evacuated. The Tucson Fire Department was on the scene at around 2:30 p.m., while UAPD was waiting for the Tucson Police Department to show up, Averill said.

“”It was not known if it was a gas leak, but we smelled gas. The theory is that a truck nearby might have leaked out the gas. Our air intake units for the air conditioning are outside, so they might have sucked up the gas and this lead to the building smelling like gas. So we had to call the fire department to make sure it was not something serious,”” said Carrie Scharf, office specialist at the School of Art.

At the time of print, it is still uncertain whether or not there actually was a gas leak; however, UAPD did state that the building will be open for classes today.