DALLAS — Atmos Energy officials said an excess in the chemical that gives natural gas an odor led to an uptick in odor calls Thursday night.
Several fire departments in North Texas reported an above-average number of people calling about smelling natural gas, which smells like rotten eggs due to an added chemical called mercaptan.
Natural gas is otherwise odorless without mercaptan, which is nontoxic but has a rotten egg smell.
Atmos officials said they believe an uptick in odor reports Thursday night was due to too much mercaptan in the natural gas supply.
"If too much mercaptan is inadvertently added to the system, it causes a higher than normal concentration of the odor that is associated with a gas leak," an Atmos news release said.
Dallas Fire-Rescue said it responded to more than 220 odor-related calls between Thursday night and early Friday afternoon. The cities of Allen, Plano, Irving, and Frisco were among municipalities that issued public alerts about the emergency response.
Atmos is still investigating every odor call it receives "and will continue to do so as part of our vision to be the safest provider of natural gas services."
Anyone who smells gas is asked to call Atmos' emergency line at 1-866-322-8667.