(Spirit Lake)– Authorities were busy over the noon hour today (Wed.) trying to track down the source of a strong smell of natural gas in Spirit Lake and just east of the city, and we’re now learning new details as far as the source.
The Dickinson County Communications Center received multiple reports of the smell from right inside Spirit Lake as well as in the Francis Sites and East Okoboji Beach areas. The Spirit Lake Fire Department responded to the various locations where the odor was reported and eventually traced it to a substation. Marissa Gaal (gall) of Black Hills Energy tells KUOO news some crews with the utility were doing some maintenance work at that location…
“Our technicians in their routine maintenance and filling up of that tank, it can open that tank and then cause some of that odorant smell to come out. However there was no leak or loss of that odorant. We’re grateful to the fire department and all of the technicians who answered that call when we saw come calls come in and luckily it was just a part of that routine work.”
She adds there was no actual natural gas leak…
“That odorant is what allows us to smell a gas leak and so we want to make sure those tanks are full. That’s why we do all this routine maintenance on them.”
Gaal reminds us of the protocol to follow when you smell natural gas…
“If you smell natural gas vacate the premises that you are in. You can call 911 or if you have a direct line through somebody at your gas company, then they will make sure to get out there, check for the source of that smell, any leak that they might find, and resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”
The odor of gas resembles that of rotten eggs.
The Spirit Lake Fire Department returned to the station a little more than an hour after being called out.
