Fire department lauds reports
By Hutchinson Tribune Staff
HUTCHINSON—Reports of an odor of gas near downtown Hutchinson on Monday, June 29, were, thankfully, a false alarm, the Hutchinson Fire Department said in a news release.
Firefighters were dispatched at 10:37 a.m. to 18 W. Ave. B in response to a report of the odor of gas. While they responded, dispatch received multiple other reports of the smell of gas.
Crews searched the area for the source, finding it in the Midwest Scrap yard at the intersection of West Bigger Street and South Adams Street, about half a mile away. There they located a container of gas odorant—the rotten egg smell that is added to natural gas systems to help alert people to leaks.
“There is no emergency, as this is an odor only,” Hutchinson Fire Department wrote in the news release. “There is no gas leak. Thank you to everyone who called in the smell of gas. This is exactly what the community should do when you smell an odor such as this.”