By Victoria Stone-Meadows
Almost 150 people had to be evacuated from Chipmunks play centre in Cranbourne on Sunday 19 February after the heating and cooling system leaked gas into the centre.
CFA, Police and Ambulance crews were called to the centre at 1.20pm after staff had detected a smell of gas in the air and some of the patrons had developed dizziness.
Ambulance Victoria crews treated patients at the scene of the incident and carried out health checks on staff and patrons of the play centre.
Cranbourne CFA Senior Station Officer Ian Glass said it didn’t take long for his crew to find the source of the gas leak.
“We were inside finding the origin of the leak which turned out to be a split system heating/cooling unit had leaked a refrigerant,” he said.
“It is a non-explosive gas we found with our detector, and so we ventilated the area and had to close the place down for the day.”
Ambulance Victoria said a number of people were assessed but no emergency medical care was required.
