Gas-Like Odor Permeates Parts of New York City
Authorities were investigating widespread reports today of a strong odor similar to natural gas that permeated parts of New York and New Jersey during the morning commute.
New York City agencies and the United States Coast Guard were responding to numerous calls on emergency telephone lines. Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor.
The smell was reported from Manhattan’s midtown to Battery Park City, and strong odors were reported in Jersey City, said a spokesman for New York’s emergency management office, Jarrod Bernstein.
Some office workers were evacuated from their buildings, and a woman was taken away by ambulance, apparently overcome by the smell, New York 1 television reported.
Consolidated Edison, the natural gas supplier for the city, said it was investigating. PATH train service between New York and New Jersey was suspended.
There was no immediate confirmation about the cause of the odor. Mysterious odors come and go in the New York City area, sometimes never identified.
In August, a pungent smell wafted through Staten Island, alarming hundreds of residents. The City Department of Environmental Protection dispatched a hazardous materials crew, using equipment to test air quality for “volatile organic compounds,” which are emitted from a range of products from stored fuels to aerosol sprays to paint.
But the investigation into its source proved fruitless.
In a city scared of terrorism, pungent odors, sweet or sour, can raise vague worries about some kind of chemical attack.
In October 2005, an extraordinary sweet smell wafted from downtown Manhattan to the Upper East Side, Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and parts of Staten Island.
At that time, too, city authorities were rallied. The city’s Office of Emergency Management contacted the Police and Fire Departments, state emergency response agencies in New York and New Jersey, and the United States Coast Guard, which communicated with tugboats and container ships at sea to determine whether the odor was being detected there. The cause was not determined.
New York City agencies and the United States Coast Guard were responding to numerous calls on emergency telephone lines. Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor.
The smell was reported from Manhattan’s midtown to Battery Park City, and strong odors were reported in Jersey City, said a spokesman for New York’s emergency management office, Jarrod Bernstein.
Some office workers were evacuated from their buildings, and a woman was taken away by ambulance, apparently overcome by the smell, New York 1 television reported.
Consolidated Edison, the natural gas supplier for the city, said it was investigating. PATH train service between New York and New Jersey was suspended.
There was no immediate confirmation about the cause of the odor. Mysterious odors come and go in the New York City area, sometimes never identified.
In August, a pungent smell wafted through Staten Island, alarming hundreds of residents. The City Department of Environmental Protection dispatched a hazardous materials crew, using equipment to test air quality for “volatile organic compounds,” which are emitted from a range of products from stored fuels to aerosol sprays to paint.
But the investigation into its source proved fruitless.
In a city scared of terrorism, pungent odors, sweet or sour, can raise vague worries about some kind of chemical attack.
In October 2005, an extraordinary sweet smell wafted from downtown Manhattan to the Upper East Side, Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and parts of Staten Island.
At that time, too, city authorities were rallied. The city’s Office of Emergency Management contacted the Police and Fire Departments, state emergency response agencies in New York and New Jersey, and the United States Coast Guard, which communicated with tugboats and container ships at sea to determine whether the odor was being detected there. The cause was not determined.
Source: www.nytimes.com
posted by Svala Nocov | 11:33 AM
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