Battalion Chief Richard Cook said maintenance staff was alerted to a possible leak due to the odor of mercaptan in the building. Mercaptan is an additive which delivers a pungent odor to alert to the possibility of a leak.
Firefighters took readings and called Piedmont Natural Gas. “Since we weren’t getting any (carbon monoxide) readings inside the building we didn’t evacuate,” Cook said.
Cook described the leak as a small one outside the building and the gas was going up into the air.