STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — Authorities on Monday investigated widespread reports of a foul
odor detected across the San Fernando Valley.
Shortly after 5:00 a.m., a “rotten egg-type” smell was reported “widely across (and possibly beyond) the north San Fernando Valley and Foothill communities of Los Angeles”, according to Brian Humphrey with the Los Angeles Fire Department.
No illnesses or any specific hazard has been associated with the odor, Humphrey told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.
The sulfur-type odor — which Humphrey said “appears to be organic in nature” — had been reported as far west as Simi Valley and as far east as Cathedral City and Perris in Riverside County.
While officials worked to investigate the source of the smell, officials did acknowledge the smell could be affecting a wider swath of Southern California.
Stephen Harrison with the National Weather Service office in San Diego told KNX 1070′s Vytas Safronikas that whatever the source or sources of sulphuric odor, wind currents have been moving in an east to west direction from the Salton Sea into parts of the Greater Los Angeles area.
“It’s always possible to get some kind of odor coming from the Salton Sea up through the Coachella Valley through the Banning Pass and into the Inland Empire,” said Harrison.
Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Monica Carazzo said the odor is affecting schedules at some local schools, including Osceola Street Elementary.
“Some schools are implementing a rainy day schedule, meaning that once kids get their lunch, they go inside of the classroom, recesses are inside, that type of thing,” said Carazzo. “But that’s school by school.”
Residents do not need to call 911 to report the odor unless they are experiencing a medical emergency, Humphrey said
