Students studying at the University of Wisconsin’s Engineering Hall were evacuated Wednesday morning because of the smell of natural gas in the building, but no problems were found upon inspection.

“[Madison Gas & Electric] walked through the building with portable gas detectors,” said university spokesperson John Lucas. “They didn’t actually detect anything. It seems like there was no leak or odor.”

Building supervisor Connie Brachman said while officials found no trace of natural gas, an odor was present in the old section of Engineering Hall, which encompasses the west, east and connection section on the south side of the building.

“There definitely was some sort of smell, but I didn’t think it was natural gas” she said. “It was like rotten eggs.”

After MG&E swept the building, students, staff and faculty re-entered the building and the day continued normally, Brachman said.

It took about 15 to 20 minutes before people could go back into the building, Lucas said.

UW junior Matt Tomai was in class when the alarm went off, and said he smelled natural gas.

“There was definitely some sort of natural gas leaking into the room,” Tomai said. “We all thought someone should pull the alarm and then it went off.”

Tomai said he didn’t know who pulled the alarm. Lucas and Brachman also didn’t know.

Even though a leak wasn’t found, Tomai said the response from authorities was quick, and he thought the evacuation process went smoothly.

“It’s good to know they were able to respond in a timely manner … to get us out of the building safely, ” Tomai said.

Brachman said Engineering Hall hasn’t had an unscheduled evacuation drill in recent memory.

Campus buildings were evacuated in January 2009 for about an hour because of a gas leak when construction crews on Babcock Drive accidentally punctured a gas main.