Chemical spill leads to odd odor in Lancaster County [Video]

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Residents in one part of Lancaster County have been reporting an odd odor over the past few days.

According to the Columbia Borough Fire Department, there was an increase in 911 calls Tuesday evening into Wednesday. People called about what they believed was the “smell of a gas leak in the areas of Columbia Borough and towards Lancaster City,” according to a Facebook post by the fire department.

The fire department and members of Hazmat 2 Environmental Fire Rescue investigated the smell. It was determined to be from a small spill of methyl mercaptan, a chemical that gas companies add to methane gas to make it detectable by scent.

The spill happened at Sahd Metal Recyclingon Lancaster Avenue in Columbia. FOX43 spoke with the recycling center’s owner, who says they were sent material by a vendor that should not have been in the load, and …