BOIS FORTE RESERVATION— Fortune Bay officials ordered an evacuation of the hotel and casino here after a leak was discovered early Tuesday evening in a 30,000-gallon propane tank located at the complex.

Emergency responders from Tower, Greenwood, Breitung, Vermilion Lake, and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office and Rescue Squad, the State Patrol, and Bureau of Indian Affairs responded to the incident, and assisted with traffic control, evacuation, and establishing a perimeter around the scene.

Fortune Bay officials first reported the leak shortly before 6 p.m., when a crack was discovered in the tank’s emergency shutoff valve.

Donovan Strong, a Greenwood firefighter who served as incident command, said it appears that frost heaving may have caused the rupture in the valve and it was leaking liquid propane onto the ground when he arrived at the scene. The location of the rupture made it impossible to simply turn the tank off. He said it’s unclear how much fuel may have leaked, since much of it vaporized, but he noted that the tank was down to 9,700 gallons at the time he arrived.

Strong said Fortune Bay security had already alerted hotel and casino guests, many of whom had gathered near exits, waiting further instruction. The hotel had 174 guests at the time, with another 130 in the casino and dining facilities.

Given the extent of the leak, Strong said he ordered the evacuation of the casino property and residences within a mile of the site. He said the BIA and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office and Rescue Squad managed the broader evacuation, going door-to-door to notify residents. Evacuation centers were set up at the reservation’s Wellness Center, the Tower Civic Center, and Greenwood Town Hall. He said Fortune Bay’s emergency management team handled the evacuation of hotel and casino guests. “It was as close to textbook as we could get,” said Strong.

Meanwhile, emergency responders blocked incoming non-emergency traffic to the reservation at the intersection of the Lake Vermilion Reservation Road and County Road 77 for several hours while the evacuation was in place.

“We appreciate their quick response to help us handle this situation,” said Fortune Bay CEO Rick Anderson of the assisting agencies. “They did a great job in assisting us.”

Officials were most concerned about the potential for explosion or fire, but the prompt action prevented the incident from becoming a more tragic situation.

Ferrellgas, which provides fuel to the facility, dispatched a repair technician to the scene, who was able to repair the connection and issue an all-clear by 8 p.m. Hotel guests were allowed back into the facility minutes later and the casino was able to reopen as of 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. Guests who were in the hotel at the time were given a complimentary stay for Tuesday, according to Anderson, plus free pizza upon coming back after the evacuation and a free breakfast buffet this morning for the inconvenience.