Another Long Beach "Mystery Stink," From Belmont Shore Thru Alamitos Beach Into Port And Wafting Into ELB; Cause And Chemical Composition Thus Far "Undetermined" (Again)

As on previous occasions (reported by LBREPORT.com below) residents described it on social networks and to us as a refinery type or gas type smell...and (as on previous occasions) LBFD couldn't find a source and the LB Gas Dept. told several inquiring residents that it wasn't natural gas. An inquiry by LBREPORT.com to SCAQMD this morning is pending [and the agency's response will be added here as received.]

LBFD Public Information Officer Brian Fisk tells LBREPORT.com that LBFD dispatch received roughly 20 incoming calls in the 10 p.m. hour, dispatched Engine 14 to the area and couldn't find a source. LBFD says the U.S. Coast Guard inquired about it as did NRG (a power plant in the Port.)

At this point (10 a.m. Sept. 12): the source of the odor and its chemical composition are undetermined (again).

LBREPORT.com readers responded on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lbreport):

...[S]tinks in Los Altos too, had to close all the windows and doors
I am smelling it in the plaza by Marshall Middle School!
Yep, smelled it at about 10:15 pm at 2nd & Covina. Tar-like odor wafted into our windows for about 10 minutes, then was gone outside but lingered in our apartment for an hour as we tried to go to sleep. Gave my wife a splitting headache which eventually subsided.
It was in Alamitos Heights, as well. Wasn't a gas leak.
This is definitely a recurring problem in this city, and I've yet to hear a satisfactory explanation of what's causing it, despite having reported it.
It is in Alamitos Heights and it smells like roofing tar.
It was horrible over here, Reah. Don't smell it anymore. Thank God.
Was horrible in the Shore around 9:30 [pm]

In direct email to LBREPORT.com: "Serious 'refinery' smell in Belmont Shore. Stifling...It was extra strong."

Justin Rudd's "LongBeachCalif" Facebook page also received multiple dispatches (excerpts below):

...I hope the unidentified odor that's all over the shore and other parts of LB is non toxic.
This isn't a normal smell. Never smelled anything like it before and I grew up in the 80s with smog alerts and brown sky.
I am off of 4th and Temple and I smelled something burning a few hours ago myself. Really strong and close. I don't consider myself one of *those* people either, but a smell is a smell. And it's especially troubling on a really hot day. I also closed my windows but I could still smell it. If you find out what caught fire, let us know.'
My neighbors and I smelled it too. We live close to Rubios off of 2nd. We were outside and it came on real strong out of no where....
I got through to the gas company. They checked it out and it's not natural gas which is good. They said the smell will go away soon.
I smell gas on Park, fire truck is out on Park now near 2nd St
I'm off Toledo too. I hope its non toxic.
Yes we smell it on Pomona and the Toledo. It's making me feel sick.
Terrible smell here in the shore. The gas co, of course, says "it's nothing".
We were forced out of our homes with the same stench a few months ago. Got the same line. Burn off. I don't believe them. It was nauseating. And scary. It came on suddenly and was overwhelming.
It was stronger inside the house/ everyone in the neighborhood was outside concerned.
I smell something like oil burning or gas
[I]t's awful off broadway too!
I smell it in the Los Altos area also. Smells like gas.
Smells like rotten eggs or natural gas near me in the shore.
Strong gas smell in shore too
Smells like gas!
We're in Alamitos Heights and it's strong over here, as well.

Residents have on several occasions reported similar area odors and (along with LBREPORT.com) have not received definitive answers from either the South Coast Air Quality Management District (non-elected board governs the agency whose duties include identifying and regulating regional air pollutants) or the City of Long Beach (elected City Council governs non-elected staff; all cities' responsibilities include protecting public health and safety) as to what substance(s) Long Beach residents/families were breathing and from where it came.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com:

On May 17, 2014, residents reported an area odor (mainly affecting shoreline areas east of downtown extending inland for about a mile or more.) Some examples of what our readers said:

We live on 700 block of Gaviota. It was so bad, I had to close the front door and some windows. The worst of it was between 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m."
3rd/Orange: "It's the same horrible petroleum stink we had back in March, also on a weekend. I don't think it's a coincidence that this always happens on the weekend..."
Broadway & Falcon; "Smells like natural gas."
"I smelled it in Signal Hill."
"Yep, up in Wrigley."
"I'm downtown 3rd & Atlantic and I don't smell it; usually we get it real heavy here.
"I smelled it at LBCC (PCC campus.)

At early afternoon, LBFD PIO Will Nash told LBREPORT.com that its dispatch center had received a number of calls reporting the area odor. SCAQMD, the region's air quality agency, takes voice mail reports during non-office hours; on previous occasions, it's dispatched personnel after the odor has disappeared, then said it couldn't identify the source.

On March 16, 2014, Long Beach residents reported an intense odor across a fairly wide portion of Long Beach from mainly downtown to Cherry Ave. extending roughly from the shore to about PCH. The South Coast Air Quality Management District told LBREPORT.com on Mar. 18 (the agency's first open business day of the work week) that it received 89 odor complaints primarily from downtown Long Beach, mostly on Sunday with a few on Monday.

"Most residents complained of very strong petroleum-type odors," emailed Sam Atwood, SCAQMD Media Relations Manager. "We sent several inspectors on Sunday in response to the complaints.

So...what were Long Beach residents breathing? "Inspectors did detect the odor and investigated several potential sources but ultimately were not able to track it to a source. We are still evaluating information relating to this odor event," SCAQMD told LBREPORT.com at the time.

An LBREPORT.com reader in the Orange/4th St. area told us shortly before 9:00 p.m., "It has smelled for three hours now. I left home to get away from it, drove back and it still smells, left again. In Seal Beach now, doesn't smell here. Considering a hotel room, it is THAT bad."...

Justin Rudd's LongBeachCalif Facebook page accumulated over 80 comments about the Mar. 16, 2014 incident, variously describing the smell as similar to a hair permanent solution, or roof tar, or asphalt, or petroleum-like...and many of them described the odor as intense. Below are some excerpts form Justin Rudd's LongBeachCalif Facebook page:

Anyone know what the tar-like smell is?...Cherry/3rd St area...
Smells like burnt hair over here in Naples.
Super strong on 4th and redondo
I smell it at 7th and pacific too. It's really bad over here. It's so hot we need to open the window but the air is too bad to breathe in. So it's 90 degrees in our apartment and there is nothing we can do about it
I thought maybe someone was crazy enough to tar their roof in this heat. Smells awful here too...Alamitos & 5th.
Smells like sulfur
I smelled that awful odor when I got to 3rd and Alamitos
I don't know, but over here, it smell's like burning Asphalt or Rubber, oil maybe?
We thought it smelled like perm solution, too!
Smells bad by Cesar Chavez park
The smell won't leave our apartment now. Giving us all migraines. Cherry and 1st (Bixby Park) been smelling for about 4.5 hours now.
2nd and kennebeck, smelling it too...
Daisy and 10th. Gave us all a migraine
Ocean & Pine. I smell it, too...
Yep down here on 7th and atl it stinks bad
Yes me too I'm on 8th and magnolia.
Nasty smellin at long Beach blvd and first
Real bad at 3rd and Alamitos! Headache and allergies
I smelled it earlier around PCH/Redondo.
It had permeated inside the whole apt had to shut the Windows which made my headache and nausea only worse trapping the heat in...I'm still not feeling good....
Smells like sulfur to me too at 10th & Pine. Or burnt rubber...
It is over by 4th and Orange too.
I have smelled it often, 4th and chestnut, but never knew what it was.
OMG it's making me sick!
Ocean and Belmont...same thing all day.
7th and Walnut. Really strong at 5:00 pm...
It's horrible! I'm on 3rd and Cherry
It smells like tar downtown. i thought it was a street issue.
Really bad on 7th and Magnolia
15th and Elm the smell was nauseating...smelled like sulfur pretty bad
5th and junipero it's bad!
I smelled it on 7th/Ximeno as well
I'm at the Villages and it is really bad out here!
I smell it too...Alamitos and 1st
I live on Gladys and 7Th and can smell it here. what is it?
It's horrible.. I thought my condo was in fire..woke me up from my nap!!
I was wondering what was that burning smell

On June 29, 2013 an area odor -- which smelled more like natural gas -- was felt so intensely 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. AQMD later said it didn't know what it was, what it contained or from where it came. Two days later on July 2, 2013, 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.

On Oct. 25, 2012, residents of the Belmont Shore/ELB area variously reported a smell similar to rotten eggs or natural gas. AQMD said it received roughly 105 calls clustered mainly in Belmont Shore and areas slightly inland [into ELB].

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.

Commenting on the May 2014 incidents, Chris Garner, Director of LB Gas noted on LBREPORT.com:

[[N]atural gas has no natural odor. The smell associated with natural gas is an odorant added to the natural gas so as to more easily identify a leakage.
When the Gas Department receives phone calls from the public about "area odors", several actions occur. Our Systems Control personnel verify that there is no indication of a major drop in pressure on our gas system (staffed and monitored 24/7) which would indicate a major gas leak. Gas reps are immediately dispatched to the area with special "gas sniffers" technology to try and locate the source of any natural gas leaking in the area.
The oil contractor on the offshore oil islands is contacted to immediately verify if they have experienced any equipment failures. We request the callers to notify the AQMD as it takes several reports to the AQMD before they will investigate an area odor.
With these steps, we can safely assure the public that these area odors are not associated with natural gas leaking from our gas pipeline system, that the area odor is coming from some other source. IF the area odor ever is identified as a natural gas leak, the Gas Dept has personnel on call 24/7 to immediately respond to the location, identify and isolate the source of the leak, terminate the flow of gas, and then make the necessary repairs.

So...what were Long Beach families breathing last night?

Further as we learn it on LBREPORT.com.