It’s the case of the mysterious gas smell in Powell River.
Just after 7:30pm Tuesday, North Island Dispatch received several calls about a strong smell of either gas or propane around the 3900 block of Marine Avenue.
Powell River Fire Rescue deputy chief Rocky Swanson says as fire crews started rolling, they got a call about a possible natural gas line break in the same area.
Swanson says when they got there, they didn’t find anything, even though they could smell gas, themselves.
“We went on a little bit of a wild goose chase,” Swanson said. “We just kept getting, call after call, after call and eventually the smell went away.”
Swanson notes that the gas company didn’t report anything, and no agencies have officially reported having any evidence whatsoever to support any kind of natural gas leak.
He added that it was quite a coordinated effort.
“Between North Island dispatch and the RCMP, (the) gas company, including even the coast guard, we even called them.”
Swanson said they explored every possibility as to what caused the smell.
“We looked at everything. We looked at (the possibility of), say, a truck that had leaked actual gasoline out, or something like a large commercial vehicle. We looked at the different rental places up here in town that have compressed gas cylinders on their property. We went to multiple private residences because they thought it was in their own homes, and we brought gas detectors in with us and found no trace of anything.”
