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Crime & Safety

Foul Odor Likely From Santa Monica Bay, Fire Official Says

Fire departments in Santa Monica received 911 calls Sunday about a foul odor.

Fire departments in Los Angeles and Santa Monica got calls today about a foul odor, and believe the stink is an ocean-based natural occurrence blowing ashore from the Santa Monica Bay.

Santa Monica fire haz-mat crews were called out to the oceanfront after getting calls at 8:30 a.m., and found unusual concentrations of odorless methane gas in the air, said a dispatcher named Walker.

That led them to conclude that either a pocket of stinky algae, or bubble of methane laced with sulfurous gas, had surfaced in the ocean.

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Such occurrences are not uncommon in the bay. Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the Air Quality Management District, said his agency has not confirmed the Santa Monica Fire Department's theory.

Los Angeles fire dispatchers also got calls about the odor.

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Last September, a widespread sulfurous stench noticed from Indio to the San Fernando Valley was traced back to a biological occurrence on the landlocked Salton Sea.

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