County Office is evacuated

Natural gas leaking from pipes on the outside of the County Office Building forced employees to evacuate the building around 4:45 p.m. yesterday.

A Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. employee who arrived around 5:30 p.m. repaired the equipment, said Lt. Fred Plunkert of the Westminster Volunteer Fire Department.

The leak was a minor one, he said. In addition to Westminster, units from Reese, Pleasant Valley and Reisterstown were at the scene.

Many employees already had left for the day by the time the leak was reported.