Walnut St. closed after freon leak

The 3900 blocks of Walnut and Sansom streets were closed for about an hour yesterday morning when Philadelphia Fire Department officials discovered a freon leak in the Convenient Food Store. Five fire trucks, two ambulances and the hazardous materials unit from the Fire Department responded to the leak. No one was hurt yesterday at the store, which had been previously gutted by a fire early Saturday morning. And Kinko's Copy Center, located next to the Convenient Food Store, was evacuated as a precaution. "It's pretty routine for the Fire Department to send that level of response initially," a Fire Department spokesperson said. "You get the works, send everything and worry about it later." Fire Department Chief George DelRossi said freon can be toxic if inhaled and is also hard to detect because it is an odorless, colorless gas. "You don't want to inhale it in large quantities," DelRossi said. According to DelRossi, the freon leak started after someone broke into the back entrance of Convenient Food Store Wednesday night. He said the intruder attempted to steal copper tubing from refrigerator pipes causing the freon to escape. Firefighters "kinked" the pipes to stop the freon from leaking further, DelRossi explained. Ed Datz, an official of University City Associates -- the subsidiary corporation of the University that owns the property -- said the back door was locked and secured prior to the incident. He added, however, that the door will be welded shut. "A lot of people just go ahead and don't want to leave things alone," Datz said. In addition, Philadelphia fire marshals were investigating the cause of the Convenient Food Store fire when they realized the freon was leaking. The fire is still currently under investigation, but no cause has been determined. Students at the scene yesterday said they were inconvenienced by the evacuation of Kinko's because they needed to use the copiers. Second year Law student Tanya Galuszka said she was in a rush to get copies done for a moot court session when she was told to evacuate Kinko's. "Last night I had a premonition that I shouldn't put it off because Kinko's might burn down," Galuszka said. "That's what I get for being a procrastinator." And Kinko's employee Ibrahim Balogun said he was afraid his customers would be disappointed because their work had not been completed. "It's affecting my business," Balogun said. Local businesses such as College Pizza and Mega Video have been closed since Saturday from the recent fire. College Pizza owner Ulysses Lancellotti estimated that the Convenience Food Store fire caused between $50,000 and $60,000 in damage. "The smoke is so bad it's unbelievable," Lancellotti said. He added that he hopes to re-open College Pizza in about a week. And he said that when the store re-opens, there will be all new fresh food. "I'm going to throw everything out, even the soda," Lancellotti said. Orest Hrabowy, manager of Mega Video, said he hopes his store will re-open in a few weeks. Mega Video suffered severe water damage, as well as damage to its computer system and video tapes. Hrabowy said he can not estimate the cost of the damage because the insurance adjuster has not yet surveyed the store. The Fire Department responded to the freon leak at shortly after 10:30 a.m. and had reopened the streets by noon.

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