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Fire departments across Montgomery County have received dozens of calls Saturday, Feb. 8, reporting unpleasant smells, including chemicals and burning plastic. But officials say it isn’t a leak or a fire, but an atmospheric anomaly.
Calls began around 11 a.m. Saturday and have continued throughout the day. Lansdale, Upper Dublin, East Norriton, Abington, Upper Gwynwedd, Lower Gwynedd, Montgomery Township, Horsham, Rockledge, Ambler, and Cheltenham have all had calls to emergency dispatch regarding the smell.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the odors are likely the result of a temperature inversion, a temporary condition in which air temperature increases with height. A relatively warm mass of air sits atop the inversion, preventing air within the inversion from rising.
According to the National Weather Service, inversions are most common when the sky is clear and there is light or no wind. Inversions tend to form in the early afternoon and late evening and persist until a few hours after sunrise.
As air gets trapped close to the ground, smog, smoke and other pollution become trapped with it.
According to the Pennsylvania DEP, children, the elderly, and people with chronic respiratory illnesses are at risk during an inversion. Members of at-risk populations are advised to stay indoors and do only moderate physical activity until the inversion passes.
In the meantime, public safety agencies are responding to the situation.
“There was a larger than usual number of gas odors outside throughout multiple municipalities today with callers reporting a strange chemical or burning plastic type odors,” said Gavin Butler, chief of the Fairmont Fire Company in Lansdale. “Unfortunately I'm unaware of the source or the cause. As of now, Fairmount Fire Company (Lansdale) has not been dispatched for anything related. We did respond earlier today for a gas leak incident on Hancock Street, but that was unrelated. That was a minor issue that has since been mitigated and turned over to PECO.”
Butler said if anyone smells an odor like rotten eggs (which could be a gas or propane leak) or unfamiliar chemical-type smells, they should call 911 to report it so that it can be properly investigated.
