Authorities in San Diego County investigating strange chemical odor

This is a breaking news story developing in southern california. Could this be a sign of a pending volcanic/seismic event?

www.10news.com...

Authorities Try To Find Source Of Mystery Odor

Some Residents Reported Odor Similar To Jet Or Diesel Fuel


SAN DIEGO -- Authorities are investigating reports from around San Diego County of a strong, chemical-like odor.

People began making emergency calls about 2 p.m. to report a pervasive and pungent smell variously described as akin to kerosene, diesel fuel, bus exhaust, lighter fluid and other petroleum-based substances, according to Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

On Wednesday afternoon, 10News received dozens of calls from residents who said they smelled what they believed was jet fuel in the air.

Residents from areas such as Encinitas, Solana Beach, Pacific Beach, Mira Mesa and La Jolla all reported the odor. Residents living in inland areas such as North Park, Hillcrest and Rancho Bernardo told 10News they smelled the odor in their area.......

Either that or a spill/disposal of some toxic chemical or industrial waste product....

Have similar smells been recorded prior to seismic events in the past? If so... trouble :S

reply to post by Disconnected Sociopath


wow considering that is such a wide area this is definitley something to watch good find op

Perhaps something happened at one of the military bases there and a press release hasn't been issued yet.

Edit:
The article does say that MCAS Miramar can smell the odor, but it isn't from them.
It still is possible that it's from one of the bases, especially if it smells like jet fuel. Maybe the public affairs people haven't been informed yet or given permission to release this to the public.

Natural gas contains butane that smells a lot like fuel. Any gas pipelines in area.

Originally posted by murch
Natural gas contains butane that smells a lot like fuel. Any gas pipelines in area.

I've never lived in San Diego, but I have lived in northern California (and have family there), and I believe it is possible.
After the gas pipeline ignited outside of San Francisco a while back, my family told me that PG&E was inspecting every gas line they could and taking gas leaks very seriously. They got mad at my family for having a gas leak in their house and not reporting it ASAP.

I live in escondido and work in Rancho Bernardo. On my way home from worrk (around 3:45pm) I smelled someething on the freeway (I-15). It smelled like exhaust from a semitruck and being on the freeway I just passed it. It was strong and lasted for about a minute till I got closer to Escondido. This explains the smell cause I usually dont smell the exhaust on the freeway unless I'm stoped and the city bus exhaust pipe is blowing right at me.

reply to post by Alchemst7


Theres plenty of Idustrial stuff around the 15 near Escondido (or escongheto as we called it when I worked there) plenty of places near the freeway could produce strong chemical smells.

reply to post by Disconnected Sociopath




I'd like to say it was a Monsanto truck on interstate fifteen but it wasn't. It was me. Today I had my septic tank pumped and cleaned. That's all.

Sorry.

I live in North Park and haven't smelt anything at all. Hopefully it's nothing hazardous.

edit: I called my mom and she said that when she was biking to her work in Point Loma she smelled something akin to Paint Thinner and that it was so strong she felt ill and hoped on the bus to avoid it.

I just saw a blurb of this on the local news. Paraphrasing, but something along the lines of "dozens of calls coming in" "starting around 2pm". The calls were placed from as far North as Encinitas to the South Downtown area I believe. I'd like to jump the gun and rule out gas leaks. 25 miles-ish from Encinitas to San Diego. Leaky gas carried on the wind? I dunno.

The only thing that I could think of is Hydrogen sulfide for the exaust smell. But the thinner smell could be a couple of other chemicals. Was it a sickly sweet smell, a burnt smell, rotten plant smell, I am sure people could be a little bit more discriptive to pin point what it actually is.

I am fortunate enough to be a few miles more inland, and was sleeping most of the day, but cant smell anything here.
Reading the most recent entry on google news, the Fire & Rescue spokesperson, states qoute,
"Unless there's more definititve information, we can't have crews just constantly roaming around, trying to find something that seems to be so widespread that it's all over the city," Luque said. "We'll just have to wait and see if there are any reports that come in that are more definitive in terms of where the source might be, and we'll check it out."

Source: Something Smells in San Diego | NBC San Diego
(is that too large a qoute?)
Also, reading through comments posted on multiple related entries, I was a little fearful to read of many people claiming to, after being exposed to the smell, come down with headaches and "a tickle of the throat", as well as accounts of feeling the need to go to the ER. *I'm aware that some of these comments could be Trolling.
Also I note that the last google news story with new info I could find was posted at 6pm PST, but comments of people becoming ill are being posted as of last check at 12.10am.

After reading the link at the bottom of the article it states the following:

Authorities eventually determined that decaying vegetation in and around estuaries and ocean inlets was to blame for the foul smell, Luque said.

So the question is can anyone confirm that in and around estuaries and ocean inlets they could smell this?

I live in East County, San Diego. I sleep next to a window that I like to keep open, for the fresh air. Last night I noticed how sweet and moist the fresh the air was.

No foul smell here. I think if there was volcanic activity, we would smell it out here too. It's probably a chemical leak from Miramar or Camp Pendleton.

It's cool to see so many ATSers here in San Diego! Hi guys!

Originally posted by murch
Natural gas contains butane that smells a lot like fuel. Any gas pipelines in area.

I thought natural gas was odorless. They put a chemical in it so it CAN be detected by smell so when people smell it they know their homes are about to be blown to bits if they light a match.

reply to post by Gwampo


Yes you are right. I think the chemical that they put into natural gas is called Mercapton. (please correct if wrong)

Peace.

Double post. Sorry about that. Bloody phone!

Thank god people don't like to smoke in LA. We could've seen a real explosion.

reply to post by relocator


To be clear here, I do believe the qoute was in reference to a similar event from last year, when numerous calls were made about a sulpher smell, which was due to the rotting vegetation. The smell in question this year, according to nose witnesses is a petroleum based odor, more like kerosene