LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – A funny smell around town has local authorities testing for air quality. The Lafayette Consolidated Government confirms they’ve received calls about the unidentified strange odor in the air.

LCG says they are fully aware of the odor that is moving through Lafayette parish.  They say they conducted some testing to rule out the worst case scenario.  LCG explains that they do know that it’s not harmful to the public.

LCG says it’s been working with LUS to determine potentially any issues the odor could cause.  They say their inquiry came back showing nothing.  “Sometimes with the wind things can come from where it’s outside of Lafayette, for sure,” says Bess Foret of LCG’s Department of Environmental Quality.

Foret says her office has received calls all day about the unidentified smell. “People were explaining it to be like a garbage smell or a dead animal smell.  We’re thinking maybe a garbage truck driving around so that could have been an issue,” adds Foret.

Foret explains their findings came back with the same answer that whatever the odor is – it’s not harmful. “I also called our fire department and they were definitely aware of it. They’ve been out for a few hours trying to determine where it could be coming from,” notes Foret.

Lafayette Fire Hazmat Chief Chad Sonnier says his department got the calls too. “We went into the City of Lafayette and areas of the parish from north, south, east and west.  We covered it with air quality monitoring and all air quality was fine other than the peculiar smells.  It’s nothing harmful,” adds Chief Sonnier.

According to LCG there’s a fish processing plant south of the parish.  LCG says there’s speculation the smell could be blowing-in from there.