whatisit
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 31
Location: Fort MIll, SC, USofA |
Mysterious mist leaves West View in a fragrant haze
 Fri Jul 30, 2004 8:25 am
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Any ideas on whether or not this might be related to aerial spraying?
Mysterious mist leaves West View in a fragrant haze
By Jonathan Szish
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Friday, July 30, 2004
Portions of West Deer were in a sweet-smelling haze Thursday, and no one's sure what it was.
Residents initially were told to stay inside when the mysterious wisps appeared. Several residents of Shoaf and Beechnut streets reported irritated eyes, but no one was hospitalized, police said.
The Allegheny County Health Department and the state Department of Environmental Protection were called, but authorities could not determine the source. Police, firefighters and Hazmat crews also responded.
"It was like a haze in the air, maybe 8 to 10 feet off the ground," said West Deer Police Sgt. Darren Mikus, who responded to calls from the Blanchard and Curtisville sections of the township. "It almost looked like heat (rising)."
The haze was barely visible, he said.
The haze had a sweet, strong odor and lay in 100-foot strips over a 3- to 4-mile-wide area, Mikus said. It lifted after about 30 minutes.
"We were unable to track exactly what it was. There is no danger to any of the residents," DEP spokeswoman Betsy Mallison said about 5 p.m.
Asked if anyone was ever in danger, Mallison said, "since we don't know exactly what it was, we can't tell exactly what impact it would have had on the community."
County Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole said the agency found no releases of chemicals from plants or of chlorine gas from swimming pools. The department tested for particulates and vapors in the area and found nothing abnormal, he said.
The mystery started about 11:30 a.m., when township police received eight to 10 calls about a "strong odor."
DEP officials think the haze originated in Richland, moved to West Deer and then to Middlesex, Butler County, Mallison said.
She said anyone who smells mysterious outdoor odors should call 911.
Butler County emergency services said a weather inversion might have been responsible.
National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Redmond, who saw the haze from his home in Buffalo, Butler County, said an inversion is a daily occurrence in which the air acts like a ceiling because the temperature gets warmer with altitude instead of getting colder.
"Whatever formed that haze or cloud may have become trapped in that area where it can't rise any further," Redmond said. "There had to be a source of some kind of particle in the air to cause that. What that was, I don't know."
Redmond saw the haze about 10:30 a.m.
"I didn't smell anything. There was nothing burning my eyes," Redmond said. "You could see it. It looked like somebody was burning something. It was just everywhere. The first thing I thought was, 'Well, we're finally getting smoke from the fires in Alaska.' "
Jonathan Szish can be reached at jszish@tribweb.com or (724) 226-4675. |
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