Farmington police officer Jacob Richards blocks off Front Street at the Route 4 intersection Monday morning while detouring traffic away from a propane leak at 274 Front St. in Farmington. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal

FARMINGTON — Firefighters and police responded to a report of a propane leak Monday morning at an unoccupied building at 274 Front St., the future home of the University of Maine at Farmington’s Sweatt-Winter Child Care and Early Childhood Center.

The propane tank was filled Monday morning and a check valve stayed open, releasing propane gas, acting Farmington Fire Rescue Chief Tim Hardy said.

Sections of Main and Front streets were initially closed to traffic about 9:15 a.m. before the closure was narrowed to a section of Front Street.

An Irving propane technician replaced the defective valve, Hardy said.

The section of road was reopened at about 11 a.m.

Farmington Police Department and University of Maine at Farmington Campus Police Department, along with Farmington Fire Rescue Department and Public Works Department, responded to the incident.

The 10,384-square-foot building is the former Notify MD, and has an entrance on Front Street but can be seen from Main Street.

The University of Maine board of trustees approved the purchase of the building in January for $849,000, and the university also plans to set aside $475,000 for renovations.

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