Businesses along The Strand were evacuated yesterday after gas was smelled inside a dental surgery.
The block of restaurants and businesses between Hamilton St and Harington St were cordoned off while the fire brigade investigated the leak's source.
Lonestar employee Steph Walton said, "I spoke to a woman from thedentist upstairs who said they could smell gas. She said it happens there sometimes but when they couldn't find where it was coming from, they called the fire brigade ..."
Tauranga Fire Brigade senior station officer Mark Keller said they kept everyone out until they had checked everything from top to bottom. He said there was a small amount of gas that had leaked from a business at ground level which had filtered through to the first level.
"The gas won't be reinstated until the leak is found. We have to be careful when we let people back into the building ... and make sure there is no chance of ignition of the gas."
