The Arlington Fire Department addressed a series of citywide odor report on Tuesday that stemmed from a compression station in South Arlington.
The department addressed the calls in a series of X posts that started just before 11 a.m. on Friday morning. The first post reads, “At approximately 8:30 a.m. this morning, the Arlington Fire Department received multiple calls from residents reporting the odor of natural gas across various areas of the city.”
A second post continues, “The Arlington Fire Department immediately communicated with Atmost Energy, who advised that the orodr was the result of an over-pressurization of mercaptan at a compression station located in south Arlington, requiring a controlled release. No natural gas was released.”
A third post explains that natural gas is odorless, but mercaptan is intentionally added during processing so that people are able to smell the gas when it leaks. “Mercaptan has a strong, pungent smell, even at very low concentrations,” the post reads.
The department says the southerly winds on Tuesday morning allowed the odor to travel across Arlington as far as Lamar Boulevard. “At this time, there is no danger to the public, and no hazardous conditions have been identified,” the final post reads. “Arlington Fire Department and Atmos Energy continue to monitor the situation.”
One person in the X thread wrote, “Well, at least I know I’m not going crazy. I was searching all over my garage trying to find what the [expletive] stunk so bad and then I walked outside and I smelt it out there, so.”