The Elizabethton Fire Department responded to a reported gas smell near the west portion off River View Tomehomes Friday.
“We got a call about a gas smell,” Andy Hardin, Fire Marshall with EFD, said. “We came out, investigated the tank where the product was before in the area. We couldn’t pick up anything … we looked at it with a thermal camera – what we were dealing with before produced heat – but we checked the area and nothing was found.”
The smell was reportedly projected from the construction site on Stonewall Jackson Drive, where future housing was being built until recent discoveries from city officials.
According to Scott Whitmire, with the Elizabethton Police Department, longtime residents in the area reported smelling natural gas. Following the report from residents, another report from citizens was made, reporting they were smelling gas.
The road heading into the west portion of the buildings was closed off until the EFD concluded their investigation.
Further updates on the vault fire from the construction site have been at a standstill with no confirmation on what the chemical was, according to Hardin. During previous investigations, officials suspected the substance to be carbon disulfide.
“They’ve sent samples off,” he added. “At this time, we haven’t received anything back yet on that.”
The road leading into the apartments is open to the public. For safety concerns, there is a fence being built around the construction site where the chemical was discovered roughly two weeks ago.
“There’s a fence being built to contain the area for the safety of the residents,” Hardin said.
Hardin added that the construction of the fence was brought by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the owner of the property, Shane Abraham with Universal Development and Construction, is handling the efforts and working with TDEC through the ground remediation process.