A gas leak behind the Thompson Hotel in downtown Kamloops was quickly brought under control this morning.

Hotel general manager Pav Moore says a street-affected resident tampered with the gas meter behind the building.

“This one’s pretty minor, they’ve got it under control. So somebody that parked in the back walked through the breezeway and noticed the smell, so she came and reported it before it became an issue. So it was just a matter of waiting for Fortis to arrive.”

She says she’s not sure if this was malicious, but says the small business is dealing with vagrancy on a daily basis.

The hotel is doing repairs in part of the building, after fire damage caused by arson just over a month ago. Moore says six rooms on the west wing of the building have had to be gutted, and about 25 per cent of rooms are closed until March 1, when those renovations are finished.

Moore also says the hotel will be closing off the parkade to make the building more secure.

“That’s an expense that we were hoping to avoid but we don’t have a choice in the matter. So we’ll be securing the building and closing the parkade, so that we just don’t have that vagrancy coming through.”