Fire chief: natural gas odors common in winter

When the weather gets cold, it's inevitable that reports of gas leaks flood emergency services, said Carson City Fire Battalion Chief Vince Pirozzi.

"When it gets really cold the tanks have more capacity than when it's hot so they can be filled with more gas. The tanks have a natural vent on them, even at the propane stations you see around town. Whenever you get a big temperature change, very often overfilled tanks will vent," he said. "We get these kinds of calls every time it gets really cold because propane is heavier than air. Propane just hangs around."

On Sunday a motorists entering the city on Highway 395 reported an odor of natural gas at 5 p.m. A short time later a second report came from the third floor of Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center.

"We never found anything," said Pirozzi. "We drove all over town and couldn't find anything and couldn't smell anything."

He said there is very little hazard if someone smells such an odor outdoors.

"They rarely ever cause any kind of a fire hazard. It smells, but other than that it really can't make you sick unless you're standing in the middle of it for two hours," he said.

But, officials warn, if people do smell gas, they should call 911.

The fire department also did not receive any reports that anyone became sick from the odor Sunday evening.

"There's nothing in the report to support that. (People) didn't report (getting sick) to us, otherwise, we would have had to dispatch an ambulance and we would have treated people. We didn't," said Pirozzi.

Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.