Odor indeed due to mercaptan

TIFFIN--- The odor that impacted residents Thursday was due to an overabundance of Mercaptan. Seneca County EMA called the Tiffin Fire/Rescue Division about an issue with Columbia Gas and its suppliers. "The supplier put an overabundance of Mercaptan into the gas supply, and it started causing issues where people thought there was a gas leak when, in fact, there was not," said Deputy Chief Mike Homan. The suppliers add Mercaptan to natural gas because it doesn't have an odor. They do this to alert people if there is a gas leak. "Mercaptan itself is harmless; it doesn't cause any issues. We responded to twenty-four gas odor calls in the city, and all were due to this overabundance of Mercaptan. Columbia Gas was also checking to make sure there weren't any issues," he said. According to Homan, the department has not received any more calls since about 9 a.m. Friday. "We're hoping that things have started to dissipate or that the information has reached enough people and that there's not a problem," Homan stressed.