Odor investigation forced 15 Elgin homes to evacuate

About 15 Elgin homes were evacuated around 6 a.m. Wednesday as a precaution after an AT&T building nearby filled with an odor thought to be natural gas, according to fire department officials.

The first employee to arrive at the building at 1325 South St. immediately smelled what he thought was natural gas inside and called 911 at 5:41 a.m., said Elgin Fire Captain Pat Hilbrich.

Firefighters arrived shortly after and verified the strong odor, prompting them to evacuate about 15 homes surrounding the building near the intersection of Route 20 and South McLean Boulevard.

“We didn’t know for sure where the natural gas was coming from. Was it possibly leaking into other homes?” Hilbrich said. “Anything is possible in that regard. We were just playing the safe card.”

Gas was shut off to the building, and Nicor crews arrived at 6:24 a.m. but were unable to detect any leaks. Gas meters did not detect any natural gas in the air, said spokesman Richard Caragol.

“It was definitely not a natural gas issue,” Caragol said.

The homes remained evacuated until ComEd crews were able to shut down power to the building and firefighters were able to confirm the odor had dissipated.

The cause of the smell remained under investigation Wednesday night, fire officials said.

It is not clear exactly what time residents were able to head back inside, but fire department crews cleared the scene at 8:12 a.m.