Pocono News Section

Source of Sickening Odor May Never Be Found

Source of Sickening Odor May Never Be Found - Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 6:06PM EST

Reported by: Mike Trim
Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007 @06:06pm EST

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY- Who's to blame for a mysterious odor that got young girls sick in North Scranton Monday night? The ammonia-like smell caught cheerleaders for the North Scranton mini-football team off guard, sending some of them to the hospital.

One of those girls was still in the hospital Tuesday afternoon. It's all because of a smell that came, and went, with no explanation. Scranton Fire Chief Tom Davis says he's stumped. "It's a mystery. We covered all bases we could and we just couldn't discover anything," says Davis.

He says crews couldn't find what caused an ammonia-like odor Monday. More than 30 cheerleaders got sick. Kelsey Maconeghy saw her friend get the worst of it. "I had no idea what was happening to my best friend Briana. I was crying so hard, I didn't know what happened to her, she couldn't breath," says Maconeghy.

Chief Davis says his crews, and private HazMat teams didn't pick up any levels of ammonia at the field after the report.

Fire fighters also tested HazMat levels at companies that use ammonia, like Gress’s on Keyser Avenue. But those tests didn't bring up anything harmful.

Norfolk Southern Railroad said trains running next to the field aren't to blame either. A train passed through carrying ammonia material Monday evening. But Norfolk Southern says it was inspected 3 times. "Each of the cars were thoroughly inspected and there was no evidence at all that there was any problem with the cars that would have caused the incident," says Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband.

Chief Davis says it's possible a truck driving on the North Scranton Expressway could have carried ammonia. But he says checking all truck routes and loads would be nearly impossible, leaving the big stink a big mystery.