'Over-odorization' of incoming gas caused smell across Oswego County Monday

FULTON, N.Y. — Update

National Grid says an issue Monday with a regional gas intake station "over-odorized" the gas coming in. That caused residents in Oswego County to smell gas. A spokesperson confirms the issue has been corrected at that station, and that anyone in the area smells gas they should call National Grid to check for any other issues.

Natural gas has no odor and is colorless, so the odorant mercaptan is added to make sure customers smell it if there is a leak.

"We started to see the increase in call volume for the city, which eventually started trickling out to the other area fire departments," said Oswego County Fire Coordinator Shane Laws.

Laws says from 1:30 p.m. Monday through 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, 34 calls came in with reports of smelling natural gas, and says there are still sporadic reports in the area they are monitoring. A few of the calls did turn up minor gas leaks, Laws said.

Oswego Fire Chief Paul Conzone says his firefighters started responding to calls Monday night. "Our residents have done a great job everyone's called 911, and we're happy to come out and check things out," he said. "You should be able to detect any significant leak just by smelling. There are times where you can hear hissing, which, that would indicate a significant leak, maybe some discoloration around the vents of the home."

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The Oswego County 911 Center and the county's Emergency Management Office has teams responding to calls for gas odors as of Monday, July 8.

Multiple people across Fulton reported smelling a strange gas odor, prompting calls to 911.

The Fulton Fire Department, as well as several others responded to all the calls that were received.

While emergency crews are monitoring this, authorities are urging anyone who smells gas to leave and call 911 immediately.