What's That Smell? Oak Park Residents Struggle With Mysterious Acrid Odor

Chemical burns, cooked meat, rotten eggs, sewage — residents have been trying to identify a strange smell in Oak Park all month, but no one knows what it is.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has received more than half a dozen complaints this October about an odd smell that seems to have fallen over the village, NBC Chicago reported.

People have been guessing about the smell and documenting its whereabouts in a neighborhood Facebook group called “Oak Park IL — Odor Nuisance Tracing.” The group has already garnered 307 members.

One poster earlier this week linked the group to an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency site that allows users to send an anonymous complaint to the EPA. In addition to encouraging Facebook users to submit complaints, Michele Gurgas asked them to share their experiences on the Facebook page.

One user said she’d been filing complaints with the EPA every day she’s smelled the odor near her house, which tallies up to six so far.

“8:30 a.m. near Oak Park Ave. and Pleasant — burned odor — then later more of a cooked meat smell,” Helen Gilmore wrote, documenting the specifics. Many users also noted wind direction in their posts. Several others identified the smell as acrid burning plastic, sulfur, petroleum and burning rubber.

One Facebook poster wrote that she’d smelled something similar miles north in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Several others also speculated about a possible link to an acrid odor in Berwyn.

Gurgas also posted that she had met with Oak Park Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb, who’s been supportive of resolving the situation, and has been communicating with IEPA engineer George Ordija.

“It almost seems like we have two things plaguing our community,” Gurgas wrote. “Rotting vs. burnt plastic.”

Join the conversation here.

--

Image via Shutterstock.