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When you smell gas
For anyone who smells gas at home or in the street, hears a hissing by a gas line, has had the gas shut off, cooks or heats with propane, or is about to dig. What to do right now. What not to touch. Who to call, and from where. How to tell, and how it is not the same as carbon monoxide. Before you go back in, and getting the gas back on. Propane tanks and cylinders. After an earthquake or a storm. Before you dig. Where the sources differ. And the words to say when you call. No quiz and no score. One thing at a time.
Right now
- Smell gas, or hear a hissing or blowing sound? Leave now, and take everyone with you. The American Gas Association says: leave the building immediately and take others with you.
- On the way out, touch nothing that can spark. No match, lighter or cigarette. Don’t turn lights or appliances on or off. No flashlight. Don’t start a car.
- Don’t phone from inside. Carry your phone out and call from somewhere else: 911, or the gas company. For propane: your propane retailer, or 911.
- Outside when you smell it? Leave the area, then call. Don’t assume someone else has.
- Stay out until the gas company or the responders say it is safe.
- Gas turned off? Never turn it back on yourself. Ready.gov says only a qualified professional can turn it back on.
- Thinking about ending your life, or about hurting yourself? Call or text 988, at any hour.
More help
- An alarm sounding, or headaches and dizziness with no smell? When it might be carbon monoxide.
- A fire, or the smoke alarm? When there’s a fire at home. Burned? When someone is burned.
- After a storm, a flood or an earthquake? After a disaster.
- The gas is off because of the bill? When a shutoff notice comes. Money short? When the money runs out.
- A landlord who won’t fix it? When you need a lawyer and can’t pay.
- Gasoline for the car? That is a different page: Gas for a trip.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 10, 2026: Ready.gov, from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Safety Skills, last updated March 20, 2026); the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Safety Guidelines: After an Earthquake); the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Natural gas explained); the American Gas Association (Using Natural Gas Safely, and Severe Weather Preparedness); the Propane Education & Research Council (What To Do If You Smell Gas, Propane Safety In Your Home, and its home safety videos page, the text only); and 811 Before You Dig. The last three are industry bodies, not government agencies, and the page says whose words are whose. The descriptions of the 988 Lifeline and Crisis Text Line are from their own front pages, read October 2, 2026. Some pages could not be read: the federal pipeline safety agency (PHMSA) and the American Red Cross refused our request, and the National Fire Protection Association and Consumer Product Safety Commission addresses we tried were not found, so none of them is used. We did not read any gas company’s own page, any state’s law, the propane brochures that are PDF files, or any page on gas alarms for homes, on what breathing gas does to the body, or on what a visit costs; where the page touches one of these, it says so. We did not call any number. Where two sources say different things, the page reports each: opening a window, shutting off the gas, and who to call. The page has no questionnaire and gives no score, on purpose, and it gives no figures for fires or explosions. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a gas company, a fire department or a repair service, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].