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Did you smell that? North Burnaby woman worried about potential gas leak earlier this week

A North Burnaby resident wants answers after she smelled what she believes is natural gas Wednesday evening. Liane Scott, who lives in a co-op near Duthie Avenue and Pandora Street, said she was making dinner around 7 p.m.
bad smell
Did you smell sulphur in North Burnaby this week?

A North Burnaby resident wants answers after she smelled what she believes is natural gas Wednesday evening.

Liane Scott, who lives in a co-op near Duthie Avenue and Pandora Street, said she was making dinner around 7 p.m. when her children asked her about a bad smell coming from outside. Her boyfriend shut all the windows, and she went to see what was happening.

Outside, the odour was even stronger, she said. It smelled like rotten eggs, like sulphur.

“It had an almost a caustic feel to it … almost choking you when you tried to breathe,” she told the NOW. She thought “oh my god, are we all going to blow up, because it is so strong, and don’t light the barbecue, which I had intentions of doing earlier.”

She said one of her neighbours had already called 911, but she called Fortis B.C. to see what was going on, who advised her to go back inside. Before she did, she saw firetrucks heading south on Duthie Avenue.

And though the smell went away after a few hours, she says she still wants to know what happened.

Scott says she’s called the city’s engineering department and Fortis B.C., and, as of Saturday hadn't been given a response.

On Monday, a Fortis spokesperson told the Now that there were no gas leaks or work on gas lines done in that area on Saturday.

“Something that strong, that pervasive, and over that large of an area, it must have been a big breach or something. I want to know what the hell that was,” she said.