Fire Engineering - Hazmat Survival Tips: Surviving a Response to a Leak of Natural Gas

Fire Engineering - Hazmat Survival Tips: Surviving a Response to a Leak of Natural Gas:
"Hazmat Survival Tips: Surviving a Response to a Leak of Natural Gas
Beyond the Rule of Thumb
Survival Tip 40
By Steven De Lisi
Natural gas service is a fact of life in most urban and suburban areas, providing obvious benefits to a community's quality of life. However, it also presents the potential for serious injury and death to those first responders who fail to understand its unique characteristics during incidents involving uncontrolled releases. Among these is the fact that natural gas is lighter than air and odorless in its natural state. To aid the general public in detecting a leak, a very small amount of mercaptan, an odorant, is added. Mercaptan contains sulfur and gives natural gas an odor similar to that of rotten eggs"

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