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Complaints about a leak from a 2,000-gallon propane tank at Ewa Beach Shopping Center prompted the evacuation of portions of the strip mall and adjacent Ewa Beach Elementary School on Tuesday.
No one was injured as a result of the noontime leak, which emanated from a propane tank on a loading dock at the back of the shopping center near Longs Drugs, said Capt. Terry Seelig, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.
After consulting with officials from Hawai‘i Gas, fire officials established an isolation zone. As a result, about 200 students, teachers and staff from Ewa Beach Elementary were relocated to another part of the campus, Seelig said. About 100 to 150 employees and customers on the makai end of the shopping center, including Longs, a recycling center and a laundromat, were also evacuated, he said.
Crews from Hawai‘i Gas were sent to the scene, and the leak was repaired by about 2 p.m.
Michelle Samante, an employee at Loco Moco Drive Inn on the makai end of the mall, said her business and several others were evacuated by police.