COLUMBUS – The reports began coming in overnight and by 9:00 a.m., Columbus fire officials say they had responded to more than two dozen calls about foul odors or smells of natural gas.
The cause remained elusive, though it may be a weather phenomenon known as a “temperature inversion.”
The Delaware County Office of Homeland and Security and Emergency Management, which oversees the county’s 911 system, says its dispatchers received numerous calls reporting an odor in the area around U.S. Route 23 from the city south to the Franklin County line but had not found anything “of significance,” public information officer Sandy Mackey said.
According to the Weather Service website, a temperature inversion can occur when winter sunshine warms air which then sits atop cooler air, the opposite of natural atmospheric conditions when colder air is higher up. The warm air acts as a lid and traps odors and pollutants close to the earth’s surface.
The Weather Service said “a strong morning temperature inversion will trap pollutants near the surface, and calm winds becoming light southerly will limit pollutant dispersion” in central Ohio Tuesday.
At least 14 of the calls to the Columbus Division of Fire concerned an odor of natural gas and Columbia Gas of Ohio said its technicians checked out 1,000 reports but did not find “any natural gas issue that would explain today’s odor,” according to a statement issued by the utility late Tuesday afternoon.
The company encouraged residents who smell an odor of natural gas to leave the area immediately, move to a safe location and call 1-800-344-4077 and 911.
Reports of odors came from various parts of the Columbus area, including Hilliard, Upper Arlington, German Village, Dublin and Linden.