AQMD Says Inspector Dispatched Re Sat. <nobr>June 29</nobr> Stink But Odor Gone By Arrival; Agency Checked Further, No Info Yet...And No Info Re Tues <nobr>July 2</nobr> Stink

(July 2, 2013, 8:05 p.m.) -- Over 72 hours after an area odor so intensely felt that the Long Beach Gas Dept. put a recorded message on its telephone line indicating it had received a "high volume" of calls on the matter, the region's air pollution control agency tells LBREPORT.com that it doesn't know what it was, what it contained or from where it came.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, whatever it was (and LB Gas says it wasn't natural gas) triggered a high volume of calls in the predawn period about 5:00 a.m. on June 29 from the Belmont Shore, Park Estates and College Park areas.

South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) spokesman Sam Atwood told LBREPORT.com this afternoon (July 2) that the agency dispatched an investigator (from his/her home, location uncertain) at 6:45 a.m. but by the time the investigator arrived in the area, the odor had dissipated.

SCAQMD spokesman Atwood said the investigator also checked into whether anything at the THUMS offshore oil island might be related to the odor but the results of that investigation aren't immediately available. Spokesman Atwood accurately noted that the area has experienced these area odors in the past. [LBREPORT.com reported some of them in real time, see below.]

Earlier today, as separately reported by LBREPORT.com, a neighborhood in the southern central area of Long Beach reported a second stink (Tues. July 2) in the vicinity of Redondo Ave. at about 3rd and 4th Sts.

Reader 1: "It's 5:30 AM on 7/2. I've been drowning in that stench for over an hour (since I woke). I'm at 4th & Redondo."
Reader 2: "Same type of smell at 3rd and Redondo 5 a.m. this morning."

LBFD Public Information Officer Firefighter Jim Nash tells LBREPORT.com that seven callers from the Bluff Park and Belmont Heights area took the time in the predawn hours to phone LBFD and report the odor.

These are the latest in Long Beach area "mystery stinks." As previously reported by LBREPORT.com:

On Oct. 25, 2012, residents of the Belmont Shore/ELB area odor variously reported an odor similar to rotten eggs or natural gas. The South Coast Air Quality Management District said it it received roughly 105 calls clustered mainly in Belmont Shore and areas slightly inland [into ELB], agency spokesman Sam Atwood told LBReport.com.

At that time, SCAQMD sent five inspectors to try to find the sourc of the odors [information not immediately available on whether they came from Diamond Bar HQ or SCAQMD's Long Beach regional office]. The inspectors confirmed some rotten egg and natural gas type odors and were looking at three ships moored off of one of the oil islands as potential source. However by the time they arrived, there were no longer any odors detectable and at that point the inspectors weren't able to track down a source.

On September 18, 2011, a number of LBREPORT.com readers in SE and Eastern Long Beach reported smelling a strong odor, described as a natural gas type smell, from the 1 p.m. hour into at least the 3 p.m. hour. At that time, AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said the agency sent an inspector but "by the time she arrived the smell was gone.

Further on this to follow on LBREPORT.com. .