ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- It's an invisible danger.
But, a natural gas leak can be detected. The deadly explosion at the apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland, is a tragic reminder of how important it is to know the warning signs.
"A leak can happen below ground or above ground," said Lieutenant Steven Lawrence with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue.
"That gas when it finds an ignition source, then it all of a sudden ignites and it ignites with an explosion.
Lt. Steven Lawrence with St. Petersburg Fire Rescue said if you smell something rotten, it might not be the trash.
"The manufacturers have to add an odor, it's called Mercaptan. It's a sulfur smell. If you've smelled rotten eggs, that sulfur, that's what the odors going to smell like," he said.
"Evacuate the structure, call 911, have us come out and do the monitoring."
You can also buy a combustible gas detector for your home. It won't detect the amount of natural gas in the air, but it will warn you of a problem.
"You'll have a constant click, it's kind of like a metronome. It'll constantly click and then as you get closer to a flammable substance, it'll start to click faster and faster and then eventually go into a full alarm."
If you do smell that odor or for some reason suspect a natural gas leak in your home, you have to act fast because it can quickly displace oxygen from your home and even cause an explosion like what happened in Maryland.
