The Wiesbaden Fire Department in Germany recently received successive reports from the public about a gas odor at a shopping center in the city center. When firefighters rushed to the scene, they discovered the smell actually came from freshly stocked durians at an Asian supermarket—causing local emergency crews to react with both amusement and exasperation.
According to Central News Agency reports, the Wiesbaden city government recently issued a press release detailing this humorous incident of a false emergency call caused by an exotic fruit.
The press release stated that at 2:52 p.m. on the 4th, local firefighters first received a report from the shopping mall claiming a strong gas odor at the scene. Rescuers on site clearly smelled something strange, but gas-detecting instruments did not detect any substances. After ventilating the area, the firefighters left, suspecting the odor might have come from party-use nitrous oxide canisters.
At 5:47 p.m., the fire team received another report from the same location. This time, they conducted a thorough search of the whole building and finally found the source of the smell—a few boxes of freshly stocked durians at an Asian supermarket.
The Wiesbaden Fire Department explained to those who had made the reports that durian, also known as the 'stinky fruit,' gives off a very strong smell which is often mistaken for the smell of gas. The shopping center’s ventilation system ended up spreading the odor throughout the entire building.
At 9:20 p.m., the fire brigade was dispatched to the location a third time. Even though they suspected the durians were to blame again, by fire department protocol, any report of a gas leak must be treated as if there’s a real danger, so they inspected and once more confirmed no harm.
Even more bizarrely, at 10:40 p.m. that evening, firefighters again received a report, this time from an apartment building on Wald Street, about a gas smell. Upon arrival, firefighters found that the homeowner had bought durian from the same supermarket, and the strong odor had drifted from the home into the entire stairwell—causing neighbors to take it for a gas leak.