A portion of Dolphin Mall was evacuated Friday after reports of a gas smell inside the sprawling Miami-Dade shopping center, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Crews rushed to the scene to check out the hazard and clear the affected section as a precaution while the situation was brought under control.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said the evacuation covered only part of the mall, which sits on Northwest 12th Street, and was ordered out of caution rather than as a response to a confirmed emergency, according to NBC 6 South Florida. Fire crews remained on scene working to mitigate the reported gas hazard, and a gas company was notified about the smell, per that same report. The station did not specify how many people were moved out of the building, how long crews stayed on scene, or whether the mall later reopened in full.
What Triggered the Response
Details on the underlying cause were not immediately available Friday. Fire officials have not said whether the smell traced back to an actual leak, and the notified gas company's findings had not been made public as of the report.
Gas-related mall evacuations have played out elsewhere in the region this year, offering a sense of how these situations can unfold. In Dickson City, Pennsylvania, a natural gas leak forced the evacuation and closure of Viewmont Mall in January, with police announcing on Facebook that the mall was shut down due to an emergency just before 4 p.m., according to fox56.com. Mall officials there said the Scranton Fire Department directed the building to stay closed for the rest of the day while the leak was investigated, and utility crew UGI later confirmed it had located and shut off the gas, ending the active leak, the outlet reported. Roughly 1,000 customers initially lost power after electricity was de-energized during that response, though only seven remained without power by 6:10 p.m. that evening.
A Similar Scare in Texas
A comparable incident played out at Golden Triangle Mall in Denton, Texas, in June. The Denton Fire Department evacuated that building around noon as a precaution after wind pushed fumes inside, according to keranews.org. Investigators there traced the leak to a private contractor who had accidentally struck a 2-inch gas line while working near the mall's Barnes and Noble entrance, the outlet reported. Atmos Energy crews shut down the line at about 1:43 p.m., and workers later sampled and tested the air inside before determining it was safe to reopen. The Denton mall reopened by around 3 p.m. that same day, per the same account.
No comparable timeline has been confirmed for Dolphin Mall. Whatever caused Friday's gas smell, and whether it amounted to an actual leak, remains unclear based on the information fire officials have released so far.
