Ski basin building evacuated due to propane leak
Dec. 30—The main building at Ski Santa Fe was evacuated Saturday morning when a valve broke off of a large propane tank behind the lodge.
The valve broke as a Ferrellgas technician was filling the tank, Ski Santa Fe general manager Ben Abruzzo said in an interview.
"At that point, there was nothing that could be done other than for it to empty itself," he said.
The propane leak prompted an evacuation of roughly 100 people in the main building to the parking lot, said Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Denise Womack-Avila. The lower lifts of the ski area closed for about an hour and a half, while upper lifts remained open.
One person was attended to by firefighters, she said. The specific injury was unknown but was "nothing serious" and did not appear to be from inhalation, she said.
Firefighters said late Saturday morning the 2,000-gallon tank — which had about 1,500 gallons of fuel in it at the time of the leak, Womack-Avila said — was empty and no longer posed a threat. Because propane evaporates, there is "nothing to clean up" from the leak, Abruzzo said, and the tank was repaired by New Mexico Gas Co. late Saturday morning.
The city of Santa Fe Fire Department, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and New Mexico State Police responded to the incident after receiving calls around 9 a.m. Saturday.
The Forest Service also temporarily closed N.M. 475 in one direction to prevent more people from driving up to the ski area, but the road reopened by late Saturday morning, Womack-Avila said.
