Delco again probing another strange odor across county
MIDDLETOWN >> For the second time in two weeks, a heavy odor of gas was reported across wide sections of the county Monday.
The county 911 center at the Department of Emergency Services reported they started fielding phone calls just after 9:30 a.m.
The first phone calls reported the smell along the Industrial Highway in Ridley Park. Just after noon, calls started coming in from all across Chester, all with the same complaint: A heavy odor of gas.
So far 911 officials have not been able to pinpoint the source of the smell. No injuries have been reported.
Delaware County Emergency Services Director Tim Boyce said his department was working with first responders and the Department of Environmental Protection to try to pinpoint the source of the smell, which was first reported around the Boeing plant in Ridley Township, but the concentration was too thin for meters to pick up.
A hotel along Route 291 in Ridley Township was briefly evacuated because of the smell, but since has resumed normal operations.
“The only way we’re tracking it now is by reports of where we were first getting the calls and where it is heading,” he said. “A lot of reports are coming off the river. It could be from south Jersey or a lot of facilities we have along the river.”
Boyce said his office had been in contact with industries along the waterfront but no one had reported a release. The smell appeared to be traveling with the wind along the southern part of the county through Chester, Eddystone, Ridley Park and Glenolden.
The smell dissipated as it went and had cleared up within a few hours. Boyce said most callers reported a “gas” odor, but he described it more as a heating oil smell.
Boyce discounted a possibility that the controversial Mariner East pipeline was the culprit, noting its contents are colorless and odorless.
“The odor wouldn’t be consistent with those products,” he said.
Boyce noted a similar odor had hit the western part of the county on the morning of Oct. 25, but officials were never able to track its source. The 911 Center began receiving calls around 10 a.m. that day from police, firefighters and residents in the area of Chester Heights, Aston and Concordville of an unidentifiable odor that smelled like gasoline or home heating oil.
“It really was an irritant to a lot of people,” Boyce said of the incident two weeks ago, adding that the smell in that incident drifted northeast as his center began to get calls from the areas of Broomall, Newtown Square, Media and Springfield.
No one was treated for any health conditions in that incident, though Boyce said some businesses closed and the Chester Charter School dismissed early.
“We’re certainly getting tired of it,” Boyce said Monday. “I know County Council is well aware of what’s going on, (as are) elected officials. We’re not comfortable with what’s going on at all. Hopefully we’ll get to a resolution here.”