The source of a rotten odor indicating a gas leak smelled from Cranberry Highway through to Onset Pier on Friday, August 7, is still unexplained.

A representative from National Grid said on Tuesday, August 11, that National Grid workers had checked and confirmed that the leak did not originate from their pipes. The Onset Fire District did not have any additional information on Tuesday.

Onset Fire Captain Jeff Dias said Friday that the district first received calls about the incident at 9:03 a.m. on Friday morning from multiple commercial tenants at 3065 Cranberry Highway, home of Bob’s Discount Home Store, to report the smell of natural gas. Shortly thereafter, a police officer working a detail assignment outside the East Wareham Wendy’s reported the same smell.

Onset Fire crews quickly began to investigate, sending 30 personnel to visit every commercial property on Cranberry Highway from Home Depot to Main Avenue.

Making the investigation more difficult was the fact that the odor was very widespread but only intermittent. The smell was reported in Onset Center and even on Onset Pier, but the odor came and went several times.

Dias said that the work on Cranberry Highway has been ruled out as a cause. All work was halted until crews determined that the highway workers did not hit a gas line.

Wareham Fire District assisted in the investigation.

Dias noted that there is an additive in natural gas that the human nose can smell long before gas reaches a dangerous concentration in the air. As a general rule, those who smell natural gas should call 911.