Campus Alert Archive
FCC

A Faulty Shut-Off Valve, a Gym Evacuated, and 42 Minutes to All-Clear

CAgas leakemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

A gas leak in the Gymnasium at Fresno City College on February 25, 2025 prompted the State Center Community College District police to send a mass text through the 1st2Know emergency alert system at 10:57 a.m. ordering everyone to evacuate the building. First responders traced the leak to a faulty gas shut-off valve, ventilated the gym, and an all-clear text was sent at 11:39 a.m. No one was injured.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Fresno City College
Community College · CA
~24,000 students1st2Know
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction147 chars
1st2Know Alert: Gas leak reported in the Gymnasium at Fresno City College. Evacuate the building immediately and avoid the area. Updates to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The Rampage reported the district police sent the mass text at 10:57 a.m. instructing all individuals to evacuate the Gymnasium; the exact wording of the 1st2Know message was not published, so this text is a reconstruction and isVerbatimConfirmed is false.
The leak was confined to a single building, so the alert targeted the Gymnasium specifically rather than ordering a full-campus evacuation.
ALL CLEARSMS+42 min
Approximate reconstruction144 chars
1st2Know Alert: All clear. The gas leak in the Gymnasium has been resolved and the building is safe to re-enter. Thank you for your cooperation.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The Rampage reported the district police sent an 'all clear' mass text at 11:39 a.m., 42 minutes after the initial evacuation order; the exact wording was not published so this is a reconstruction.
The all-clear explicitly lifts the evacuation, distinguishing it from an interim update.
Context

Background

Fresno City College, the oldest community college in California and part of the State Center Community College District, uses the 1st2Know emergency notification platform to push voice, text, and email alerts to enrolled students and staff. On February 25, 2025, a gas leak in the campus Gymnasium triggered a 1st2Know evacuation text at 10:57 a.m., the student newspaper The Rampage reported. First responders found the source was a faulty gas shut-off valve, opened the Gymnasium doors to ventilate, and resolved the situation within the hour, with an all-clear sent at 11:39 a.m. Darren Cousineau, the environmental health and risk management director for the district, told The Rampage the failure was not related to poor management or installation, saying "Because it's a mechanical device, mechanical devices do fail on occasion." The incident was one of several gas-leak evacuations in the campus's history; The Rampage maintains a gas-leak tag documenting prior events in 2018 and 2020. The 2025 episode became the newspaper's pitch for students to enroll in the alert service.
Analysis

Key Findings

The State Center Community College District police used the 1st2Know system to issue both the evacuation order and the all-clear, a clean two-message sequence for a contained hazard
The all-clear came 42 minutes after the initial alert, reflecting a fast resolution of a mechanical gas-valve failure with no injuries
The exact verbatim wording of the 1st2Know texts was not published, so both alert texts are honest reconstructions based on student-newspaper reporting
Outcome
First responders identified a faulty gas shut-off valve as the source, opened the Gymnasium doors for ventilation, and handled the problem within the hour. No injuries were reported.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Gas Leak in the Gymnasium at Fresno City College - The Rampage Online
    therampageonline.com
  2. Student Paper
    gas leak tag - The Rampage Online
    therampageonline.com
  3. Official
    State Center Community College District
    scccd.edu
Tags
gas-leakevacuationcommunity-collegecaliforniaemergency-notification1st2know
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion