Traffic is flowing again now on 16th Street, after being closed for about an hour between Euclid St. and Columbia Rd. NW. while police and fire departments responded to a reported gas leak at the Embassy of Switzerland Cuban Interests Section.

Pete Piringer, Director of Public Information for E.M.S. and the Fire Department, says that the facility at 2630 16th St. is now safe for habitation. “Hazardous materials personnel we’re given entrance, and we were able to just assist them with some ventilation,” he says.

It was “natural ventilation,” he says. “We just opened some windows, and I think we also ran some fans in there.”

“There was no fire, no injuries” according to Piringer. Washington Gas is now on the scene to help determine the origin of the leak.