Officials seek source of mysterious odor that affected SW Wash, Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Officials are seeking the source of a bad smell cited in numerous reports overnight as the scope of that foul odor and who it has impacted is becoming clearer.

Reports of a “rotten smell” came in overnight Tuesday, which Cowlitz County Emergency Management officials initially said affected people along the I-5 corridor , from South Kelso all the way to Vancouver.

Portland Fire and Rescue confirmed to KOIN 6 News that there were a number of calls early Wednesday morning from people living in Portland complaining about a bad odor, as well.

“PF&R was dispatched to 8 odor investigation calls throughout the night with the bulk of those between 2:30-3:00 AM,” said Rick Graves, a PF&R spokesperson. “The calls ranged in location from the St. John’s Neighborhood all the way south to calls within the Foster-Powell Neighborhood. I am unaware of any medical treatment provided due to encountering the odor.”

Meanwhile, in Washington, Cowlitz County Fire District 5 Fire Chief Vic Leatzow said they received 22 calls about the smell, with two of those calls resulting in a medical evaluation.

While it’s still unclear if anyone has sustained any injuries related to the smell complaints.

The cause of the odor hasn’t been determined but officials have ruled out volcanic activity.

“I live in the community. You know, my kids live in the community. I don’t want them impacted as much as I don’t want my residents impacted. So, yeah, we do take it seriously,” Cowlitz Fire Chief Leatzow said.

Federal, state and local agencies are searching everywhere for potential answers, he said. They’re exploring hypotheses that include any industrial fires, a busted pipeline of some kind or maybe something leaking from a vessel in the lower Columbia transportation system.

The calls started coming in around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, with emergency personnel from Woodland and northern Clark County responding to 911 calls.

Leatzow said if you have a concern about a noxious smell in your area, it’s wise to stay indoors, keep your windows and doors closed and call 911 if you need medical assistance.

The large impact area and wildly varying descriptions of the smell make it challenging to narrow down, officials said.

“You get it’s burnt rubber, it’s onions, it’s moldy wet grass, it’s ammonia, it’s cat urine, it’s, you know, it’s propane,” Leatzow said. “There’s no way to narrow this down because of how widespread it is and how diverse the smell to folks are. “

Some area manufacturing plants have either shut down operations or have been ruled out as the cause.

Portland State Professor Emeritus of Geology Scott Burns told KOIN 6 News it’s not uncommon for paper processing plants to use sulfuric acid in their operations, which can produce a gas that has a noxious smell. Conversely, there could be a broken piece of machinery at fault, “a broken scrubber or something like that,” he said.

KOIN 6 spoke with several people in the community on Wednesday who shared a variety of experiences. Some said they didn’t smell anything unusual. Others said they not only smelled something was off but had physical side effects, too, such as headaches.

At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Cowlitz County Fire District 5 and Cowlitz Emergency Management announced they would be “standing down” from actively responding to the smell incident and reverting to an “investigation mode.” The statement said in part:

“Cowlitz County Fire District 5 and Cowlitz Emergency Management would like to thank the public and the agencies that participated and helped during the late night and overnight hours of the ‘Odor’ event. As we neither have the personnel expertise nor resources to further investigate or manage this event, we will be standing down from response to investigation mode. We have contacted multiple state and federal agencies seeking to determine who will be the lead agency moving forward. As of this release, that agency has not been identified. Until that agency is identified, we will continue to work with the Washington State Department of Ecology (360.407.6300) the Washington State Emergency Management Division, and the U.S
Environmental Protection Agency to answer questions.”

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