TARNTUM, Pa. -- Hazmat crews were called to Tarentum after 44 people were evacuated from their homes on the 300 block of West Sixth Street.
Homeowners waited for hours after neighbors reported they smelled gas in the area, but were allowed back in their homes around 9:45 p.m. when crews deemed the situation safe.
Firefighters used gas detection meters to track down where they thought the leak started.
"It's in the sewer system. Once it's in the sewage system it will get in everyone's house, and if your traps aren't filled with water, that odor is going to come up through your traps and fill your house up," said Mike Remper, assistant fire chief.
Allegheny County Hazmat crews were called to the scene to shut off valves to stop any potential leak.

HASTINGS, Fla. -- Drums of chemicals were likely the cause of a foul odor in the Flagler Estates neighborhood, police said.

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office responded this evening to a bad smell coming from the back yard of a home in the Flagler Estates neighborhood in Hastings, according to SJCSO Sgt. Chuck Mulligan.

The home had been foreclosed on and officials found drums of what they said are chemicals left behind by the former owners.

It does not seem to be a drug situation or a meth lab, Mulligan said.

Authorities in suburban Philadelphia say they believe the spill of a chemical that smells like natural gas led hundreds of residents to think there was a gas leak.

Abington Township Fire Marshal Kenneth Clark says about a gallon of a substance believed to be mercaptan (mur-CAP'-ten) spilled on Monday. The chemical is added to natural gas to give it a detectable odor.

Clark says a container of the substance was accidentally punctured during snow removal at an Abington business. Strong winds carried the odor to neighboring townships, and Clark says hundreds of residents called authorities and utility companies.

Bob Mosier, Public Information Officer for Anne Arundel County Schools, said that the chemical odor issue at Northeast High School caused by the remains of an organic solvent has been addressed in full and that students were back in class the same day.

"The kids were back in the classrooms and they were back in their classes that day," said Mosier.

Mosier said he believed that the school responded effectively to the situation.

"They contacted the fire department and they decided to bring the hazmat unit out to be safe," said Mosier. "That required students to stay out of class longer; it's certainly unfortunate that the students had to be out on a very cold day and the evacuation lasted so long."

The main science building on the KU campus is re-opened after a possible chemical spill.

People were told to leave Malott Hall around 4:30p.m. Monday after someone reported a chemical smell in a fifth floor lab.

Two people complained of headaches, one of which were treated at the scene, and the other was treated and taken to a Lawrence Hospital.

HazMat teams worked to make sure the building was safe, as well as other buildings.

Jill Jess/University of Kansas says, "I don't believe it's in any danger of being transferred to any of the other buildings they are of course ensuring that's the case if there is any danger, they will make sure those people are evacuated as well."

Malott Hall reopened around 7:30p.m., but the fifth-floor chemical remains closed while officials investigated the source of the smell.

The Hazardous Materials Chemical Assessment Team from Hopkins says paint products are to blame for the false nerve agent reading that sparked an investigation in St. Louis Park.

The St. Louis Park Fire Department was called to Park Village Apartments on Shelard Parkway just before 10 a.m. Sunday for a chemical smell in a second floor hallway.

The Hazardous Materials team found several household substances spilled or spattered in the hallway and determined them not to be a threat.

However, according to the report, during a check of the rest of the building, the team received a reading on its monitoring device indicating the presence of a possible nerve agent.

Authorities said no residents or responders showed symptoms consistent with the actual presence of such an agent, but Hazmat crews weren't taking any chances and began investigating the cause of the reading.

MADISON, Wis. -- The Madison Fire Department said the Hazardous Incident Team and the city health department were called to an apartment complex to investigate an odor Sunday.
Firefighters responded to an odor complaint at 1 N. Bedford St. shortly after 11 a.m. Firefighters investigated the second-floor apartment and spoke to the occupants, who were complaining of a strong odor of cleaning agents. Firefighters were unable to detect any odors on the second floor and returned. Madison police were also called to assist at the scene.
At noon, Madison police sent the hazmat team to the apartment complex after finding multiple bottles and containers of cleaning agents in an apartment on the third floor directly above the residents who made the complaint.
The hazmat team monitored the air quality and found all levels normal, according to Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez.
The two occupants of the second-floor apartment admitted themselves to St. Mary's Hospital. Their conditions are unknown but are believed to be non-life-threatening, Galvez said.
The city health department also went to the scene and cleared everyone to return to the building.

COUNCIL staff turning on a central heating system at an office in Nailsea for the first time since last winter sparked a major emergency operation.

Fire, police and paramedics rushed to Somerset Square at just after 3.30pm yesterday after staff working in a council building at the rear of the town's library reported a strange, chemical smell in a third-floor office.

Five people were in the office at the time, all of whom were evacuated on the advice of emergency crews.

A handful of people in the nearby library were also evacuated and a 100ft cordon was put around the building while fire crews went inside.

Fire crews from Nailsea, Avonmouth and Clevedon plus the Avon Fire and Rescue environmental response unit from Brislington – a total of around 20 firefighters – attended the scene.

The office is used by the council's sports development and active lifestyles team.

Five members of staff – three men and two women – were in the office when they noticed the strange smell.

Avon Fire and Rescue said they believed the smell had come from the central heating system – which had been turned on yesterday by staff for the first time since last winter.

A home renovation project took an unexpected turn Thursday when Hazmat teams were called to an Omaha home after someone reported a strong smell coming from the premises.

Firefighters made sure no one was in danger before entering the residence near 38th and Grand to investigate.

What they found was an open can of paint. Officials say there were two to three inches left in the bottom. None of the nearby homes or businesses were evacuated.

LODI, Calif. -- Crystal deodorizer created a hazmat scare Tuesday at a legal marijuana growing operation in Lodi.
Neighbors complained of a strong odor, and the owner of a storage facility on Auto Center Drive called police.
They found clear plastic bowls containing what appeared to be crystal methamphetamine, but it was deodorizer.
Storage facility owner Tim Katzakian had no idea.
"We started getting people saying we are smelling stuff, and that kind of tipped us off. And we called police, and they went up and checked," he said.
Officers came with a search warrant and found about 50 marijuana plants. However, Darren Dean and his father rented the locker.

A mysterious bleach-like odor caused the evacuation of DeKalb High School on Friday as well as the hospitalization of more than a dozen students.

The Waterloo Fire Department was called to the school at 2:44 p.m. after people began to notice a strange odor and some students had trouble breathing.

A school official said the odor was coming from the art room and an adjoining hallway, according to the fire department.

The Auburn Fire Department’s Hazmat Team was called to check the building, but the unit could not find the source of the odor.

Some students complained not only of trouble breathing but also of dizziness.

WACO (September 10, 2010)--A hazmat scare sparked an evacuation of the Baylor University science building late Thursday night.

A chemical odor triggered an alarm in one of the buildings science labs around midnight.

The Waco fire department and hazmat teams then arrived, evacuated students and conducted a search of the science building.

After an initial investigation they determined that sewage gas triggered the alarm.

The fire department then gave an all clear

A Traverse City hazmat team when on a smelly scavenger hunt Thursday morning, trying to track down a stench making people sick on a public bus.

The odor was described as a strong chemical smell. Two passengers reported that it was irritating their eyes and making them feel dizzy.

When the bus driver smelled the odor, she pulled over and immediately got everyone off the bus.

It happened around 9:30 Thursday morning at the BATA Transit Center in Traverse City.

The hazmat team arrived a few minutes later to try and track down the source of the smell. The team evacuated the area as a precaution and then concentrated their search on two backpacks.

The only thing they discovered was a small amount of marijuana in one of the bags.

"We do not know at this time what odor caused that eye irritation, if it was the marijuana smell in the bag or if it was a combination of marijuana and perfume, we’re not clear," says Captain Brian Heffner with the Traverse City Police Department. "But we do know there was no hazardous materials on that bus."

The two passengers that felt dizzy were checked out at the scene and released.

LEXINGTON, SC (WIS) – An apartment building in Lexington was evacuated early Thursday morning after the discovery of a meth lab.

Lexington police responded to the Churchwood Apartments on Old Chapin Road just after 6am to reports of a strange odor. Police found suspects in the process of "cooking" the meth in one of the apartments.

The apartment building was evacuated after officials confirmed it was a meth lab. Residents were displaced for about four hours.

Police have arrested two people in connection with the meth lab.

Lexington Sheriff's Department, HAZMAT and Lexington Emergency Management Services also responded.

A Coral Springs apartment complex was evacuated Tuesday night after a strong chemical smell from one apartment unit made two maintenance workers sick.

Tenants were allowed back into their homes at the Palms Point Apartments at West Atlantic Boulevard and Riverside Drive a few hours later, just after midnight, police said. Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue and Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue hazardous materials crews tested the building for hazardous chemicals, but found nothing.

"There are long-term environmental tests that HazMat can run, but we're done, because there's not an immediate life threat right now," said Capt. Mike Moser, a spokesman for the Coral Springs Fire Department.

Fire department officials evacuated the building, which contained 24 units, after maintenance crew members reported that a vacant apartment unit had a dangerous odor and that appliances in the unit were rusting rapidly.

The maintenance workers were treated at a hospital for nausea and vomiting, and were released, officials said Wednesday.

The cause of the smell remains unknown.

Mike Jachles, a spokesman for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, said there will be no follow-up investigation because "whatever it was ventilated itself or dissipated."

Staff return to Rolls-Royce after fumes alert at plant
Workers have returned to Rolls-Royce in Derby after being sent home because fumes were seen coming from containers holding chemical waste.
Fire crews were called to the site off Wilmore Road early on Wednesday after the fumes were spotted.
About 270 workers had to leave but have now been told to return.
A spokesman for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service said its officers were working with experts at the company to determine the cause of the incident.
Rolls-Royce said it was "a minor fume incident" and the evacuation was a "precautionary measure".
A spokesperson for the company said: "There has been no report of any injuries.
"The safety of our employees is our primary concern and an investigation is now underway."

HUDSON – An unidentified chemical odor evacuated a manufacturing building Tuesday morning and prompted a search by a HazMat team.
But it turns out the smell at Thermo-Fisher Scientific was nothing more than an odor coming from machinery used in a cleaning process, Hudson Fire Prevention Officer Steve Dube said. The building was ventilated, and there is no threat to employees, he said.
Firefighters arrived at the 22 Friars Dr. facility shortly after 6 a.m. The Souhegan Mutual Aid HazMat Response Team later arrived to assist in identifying the odor.