The strong smell of gas is wafting from Chelsea and East Boston to Winthrop, but where exactly it’s coming from is an aromatic mystery.
Several fire departments received multiple calls Wednesday with concerns about the odor, including Chelsea.
“It smells kind of like a gas. I don’t know how this can hurt our health,” Chelsea resident Elizabeth Miranda said.
“You can’t miss it. You know that you’re smelling something,” former Chelsea resident Ashleigh Rossetti said. “It’s not fresh clean air that you’re breathing in and it does more harm I would say than anything.”
Chelsea fire officials originally said it was likely coming from this 100-year-old former Exxon facility in Everett. The nearly 100-acre tank farm on Beacham Street has been the source of unpleasant aromas in the past, since the fossil fuel facility is being cleaned up and redeveloped by a Boston-based real-estate firm.
However, the Everett fire chief said it’s not them this time.
“At times when they do disrupt the soil, there is some type of odor,” Everett Fire Chief Joe Hickey said. “We don’t have any readings and we do have a detail on this site and we haven’t had any odors.”
A spokesperson for the Boston-based developer, The Davis Companies, as well as the fuel company they’re partnering with, the Global Partners, sent the following statement:
“We are actively remediating the former fuel storage site in Everett’s Lower Broadway District to transform it into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood. Periodic odors from this remediation work are to be expected and pose no threat to the community. Public safety is our top priority, and we continue to work closely with city and state officials to adhere to all proper monitoring procedures on-site.”
NBC10 meteorologist Dominic Brown said the weather could be holding that sulfur-like stench in place, but Wednesday night’s strong winds should clear things up in no time.
“Sometimes we call it a cap and it pretty much stabilizes the atmosphere,” Brown said. “We don’t have as much mixing going on meaning we don’t have a lot of wind, so things get trapped in the atmosphere.”
