Buried LP gas tanks raise stink

About a week ago, Sebring resident Donovan Fletcher and neighbors in the 4700 block of Fourth Street began complaining about a gas smell in the Highlands Homes subdivision.

It was discovered that there was a 1,000-gallon LP gas storage tank buried in front of a neighboring home. Then came the news that a second tank was buried partially next door and under the yard where Fletcher rented.

Fletcher said he has had to deal with this sickening gas odor at his home for eight days.

"It made me sick yesterday," said Fletcher on Thursday. "It made the neighbors sick and I have five small children."

He said Sebring Fire and Rescue came out to check for a gas leak and then a gas company came out, but living with the problem he wanted some action taken fast.

Sebring Police Cmdr. Steve Carr said his department was notified of the problem Monday and code enforcement officers issued a 48-hour warning to the property owners to fix the problem under the city's nuisance ordinance.

There was no gas leak, said Sebring Fire Chief Brad Batz on Friday, because the tanks are filled with water, although the pungent smell associated with the gas hung in the air.

The odor can work its way into the metal over the years, he said.

According to a previous report that appeared in March 2004, the tanks were probably left behind from World War II, after the community was built as government housing for noncommissioned U.S. Army personnel stationed at Sebring.

They were filled periodically by gas companies to supply gas through underground lines to the individual housing units.

Carr said Friday that ID plates removed from the two tanks were dated 1942 and 1943. The Army Corps of Engineers was contacted and if they are their tanks they said they would remove them without cost, said Batz.

"The guy from the Army Corps said that could take years," said Batz.

Meanwhile, the property owners will be held responsible for costs involved in removing the tanks, said Carr,

Liquid petroleum, or LP gas, is an odorless flammable gas, which is why gas manufacturers added thiol, also called amyl mercaptan, to it. The odor of thiol is often strong and repulsive in order to bring attention to possible gas leaks.

While the chemical added to the odorless LP gas is pungent, the smell isn't toxic, said Batz. But it could make a person feel ill, just as aging garbage or other strong odors might, he said.

It did leave an itchy-scratchy feeling in the throat, and that was with short-term exposure.

The property owner was issued a code enforcement warning Tuesday and was given 48 hours to fix the problem. They started digging out the first LP gas tank but realized it was 18 feet long.

They discovered a bigger problem when a second 18-foot-long tank was found, and that's when the city got involved again.

"Imagine their surprise when they found the second tank," said Carr.

So far, police, fire, code enforcement, public works, and the utilities department were involved in the process. Steve's Gas Service was called in as a consultant.

The Florida Department of Agriculture Consumer Services Bureau of LP (Liquid Petroleum) Gas also sent out an inspector.

"He came out and verified that there was an abandoned LP gas storage tank and that there was no fuel, no LP gas, in the tank and they were filled with water," said Batz. "We consulted with (the inspector) on what to do; how to move the tanks properly and safely."

An inspector from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection also showed up.

Fire contacted the DEP on proper disposal, said Batz. Bleach was added to the water and it was pumped from the two tanks and into the city sewer system.

The revelation that there were two 1,000-gallon liquid petroleum gas storage tanks buried in the ground under and next to his property surprised landlord and property owner Ralph Demers, who never knew they were there.

Demers and property owner Charles Huggins Jr. met with Carr and a special magistrate on Friday for the magistrate to have the code enforcement department remove the tanks since the tanks were large and filled with water.

"The problem here is every street has them in here," said Demers, who owns several homes on the street. "This can be a very costly thing before it's all through. We happened to be the lucky ones, No. 1.

"This is going to be going on for years as more tanks start to leak and more are uncovered. I feel for all these people who have these tanks in their yards in here."

Some of them are poor and can't afford the expense, he said.

Former City Building Official Jim Jacobs told Highlands Today in a March 2004 story that the right of ways and the streets were all given to the city of Sebring at the end of World War II.

"It was all platted and surveyed by the U.S. Army," Jacobs said. "There are tanks out there; I just don't know where they are or what size they are. It was all connected with the airport and was given to the city at the same time."

Some time in the late 1980s or early 1990s, all of the homes were switched over to propane tanks and the old gas system was disconnected from the homes, Jacobs told Highlands Today.

Over time the metal covers where the tanks were filled were covered with dirt and debris, and were soon forgotten.