Howard said that while investigators were working on the theory that drug use was the source of the odor, they were not able to establish a definitive cause of the odor.
The woman who lives in the apartment where the odor was first reported is staying in the building with someone else, the chief said.
UPDATE @ 6:25 p.m.: Approximately 20 third-floor residents at the Fairborn Senior Apartments have been moved to a church sanctuary because of the continuing investigation involving an odor in the building, Fairborn Fire Battalion Chief Adam Howard said.
There are approximately 90 units in the building, 221 N. Central Ave., the battalion chief said, and 16 to 20 third-floor units have been affected. That’s one wing of the facility, which Howard said has six wings. Everyone else has been asked to shelter in place.
The church sanctuary is at the rear of the apartment building, a converted school building.
“Anytime we’re dealing with an unknown odor or an unknown cause, it’s a strange situation,” Howard said.
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There have been no complaints from any of the residents moved from the affected area, and no complaints from fire personnel who have come in contact with the odor, he said.
Chief Howard said a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base hazardous materials unit has been sent to the scene with detection equipment, along with members of the Greene County ACE Task Force.
The task force officers are checking whether the source of the odor may be cooked narcotics, the chief said.
“There is still an opportunity that we may have to evacuate this entire building,” Chief Howard said.
INITIAL REPORT
Residents at the Fairborn Senior Living Apartments, 221 N. Central Ave., have been moved to a common area in the converted school house where they live because of an odor reported on the third floor.
Fire crews with Fairborn and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base were dispatched just after 4:30 p.m. on a report of an unknown odor.
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There is an ambulance on scene but there are no reports of any injury.
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