VOORHEESVILLE — A gas leak forced the closing of the Voorheesville Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 30.

“Thursday morning, when the staff came in, there was a very strong smell by the side entrance to the library. It was outside the building, not inside the building,” said Gail Sacco, the library’s director.

Sacco did not open the building to the public.

National Grid advised Sacco to keep all of the employees in the building, and for no one to start his or her car, until workers were able to get the gas shut off, she said.

A day earlier, Wednesday, Nov. 29, the library had a planned closing, as workers installing a gas line along Prospect Street needed to close the line to work on it, Sacco said. Without heat or hot water, the library could not be open.

On Wednesday, Sacco said the utility workers found a minor leak in the pipe leading to the library’s gas meter, which they repaired.

Then, on Thursday, there appeared to be a larger leak in the pipe. Sacco said she did not know how the second leak happened.

Nathan Stone, a spokesman for National Grid, told The Enterprise this week that National Grid responded to a reported gas leak at the library around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 30. That is when National Grid workers found a leak in the fittings closest to the library’s gas meter. He said that the workers fixed the leak and service was restored within a few hours.

Stone could not comment on the planned shutdown the previous day because that work was performed by a National Grid subcontractor, which would required more investigation.

This is the second time in as many weeks that the library was forced to close. Last week, utility workers accidentally hit the water line, cracking it, as they were working on their own gas line.