Virginia Beach, VA – Virginia Beach Fire Department units responded to a report of a gas leak at a business off Shore Drive Thursday morning.
A spokesperson for Chanellos Pizza said high levels of carbon monoxide were detected at the Pleasure House Road location, so they turned off the gas and evacuated the area.
Police dispatchers confirmed crews responded to the business around 11:30 a.m. No roads have been blocked, but the store remains closed at this time.
Bruce Nedelka with Virginia Beach EMS said four people were inside the building. One person went to the hospital on their own to be evaluated. The other three people were taken to the hospital by medics to be checked out. All four people were showing signs of carbon monoxide exposure, though Nedelka said they should be OK.
William Chip Schubert with Chanellos issued a statement, that reads, in part:
Our professional technicians and our team are on-site investigating the cause and working to fix the issue. Once the cause has been identified and corrected, we will be reevaluating related policies and procedures to ensure that this does not happen again at this or any Chanellos Pizza location.
Our store will remain closed until we can create a safe environment for our team, customers and neighbors.
The area will be serviced in the interim by Chanellos Pizza at 1002 Aragona Boulevard, 757-473-2600. The safety of our staff, customers and neighbours are of paramount importance to all of us at Chanellos Pizza. Our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who may have been affected by this situation.