Officials say the source of the smell that reportedly caused headaches and sore throats from Centralia to Portland last week is still undetermined.
Despite reports of negative reactions, Brittny Goodsell, communications manager for the Southwest Region Office for the Washington State Department of Ecology, said the smell has not been deemed as dangerous.
She added that when people smell dangerous odors like the chemicals added to natural gas to alert them of a possible spill, the exposure isn’t immediately hazardous.
The Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management reports calls to the Cowlitz County 911 center regarding the odor first started around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 24, and the smell progressed from south Kelso to Kalama, down to Clark County, and then eventually to the Portland metro area.
People compared the smell to burning rubber, garbage, ammonia or natural gas, and folks reported the smell caused them to have such reactions as itchy eyes, headaches and sore throats.
However, PeaceHealth spokesperson Debra Carnes said they didn’t receive any patients connected to the odor last week.
Cowlitz County Fire District 5 and the Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management reported they checked with companies including Longview’s Nippon Dynawave and Kalama’s LanXess, but no operational issues were reported.
At the time, the fire district reported the affected area as the I-5 corridor and advised concerned residents to stay indoors, close windows and doors.
Goodsell said her agency followed leads received last week but have received no new tips lately.
She said the Department of Ecology recently fixed air monitoring stations — one in Longview and two in Vancouver — which were collecting data during the reports of the smell last week.
Goodsell added a Cowlitz County fire agency also performed roving air monitoring the evening the odor was first reported on Sept. 24.
“Our understanding is that they weren’t measuring any readings at levels that would be of concern,” she said.
Goodsell said her department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency performed such roving air monitoring tests in the Longview area two days after the odor was first reported, but also nothing abnormal was detected. The agencies drove around the city and checked different areas, she said.
Holly Weiss-Racine, a geologist and outreach coordinator for Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, said last week’s odor is not related to any activity from Mount St. Helens.
“We have a bunch of gas sensors in Mount St. Helens crater and there were no increases in gas emissions,” she said.
Weiss-Racine said the types of odors connected to volcanic activity are detectable by people are sulfur dioxide, which smells like rotten eggs, and hydrogen sulfide, which smells like a lit match.
