RYAN ROBINSON | Staff Writer
Two people were taken to the hospital, and 20 to 30 Marietta residents were temporarily evacuated after the odor of a propane byproduct was released Thursday night, a fire official said.
“It had the potential to be serious,” Pioneer Fire Deputy Chief Brandon Smith said. “For a while, we had no idea what it was.”
Fire units investigated a “garlicky” odor in the 600 block of West Market Street and a report of someone getting sick just after 9 p.m.
A woman who is 25 weeks pregnant was feeling sick to her stomach and had a headache while an 86-year-old woman was short of breath and had burning in her throat, Smith said. Both were taken to Lancaster General Hospital. The younger woman was later released and he said the older woman likely also was released.
Twenty to 30 residents from 10 houses were evacuated. A county hazardous materials team assured a drum holding the propane byproduct was secured and residents were allowed back in their homes by 11 p.m.
The greasy, oil-like residue that caused the odor is called “heavy ends,” a byproduct of propane when it sits for a while, Smith said. “It can be as dangerous as carbon monoxide” if residents breathe it for an extended period.
Hiltz Propane Systems, 693 W. Market St., Marietta, was storing it outside in a 55-gallon drum with a lid that was not properly secured, said Todd Haberstroh, Hiltz's office manager. When Thursday’s storms rumbled through the area, water got into the drum and stirred around the heavy ends, releasing a strong odor.
“That’s what caused the issue,” he said.
Residents actually had reported an odor in the area late Thursday morning.
A Hiltz employee moved the drum inside a building and sealed it early in the afternoon, Haberstroh said. None of the liquid heavy ends ever spilled from the container, which was half to three-quarters full before rain entered it.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was contacted, Smith said.