TRUMBULL COUNTY, OH - Trumbull County Commissioners closed multiple county buildings Wednesday afternoon after a chemical odor pervaded the buildings. Commissioners say they are concerned about the health and safety of those inside the buildings. The buildings closed include Trumbull Administration, Law Library, Stone and Courthouse County Buildings.

President Tony Bernard said the odor was due to a city of Warren sewer repair project. Chemical fumes from the repair work created a strong odor across the government buildings in the area, Bernard told 21 News. 

The sewer repair project involved created the chemical odors because of epoxy resins being applied to pipes. The "curing" of the resin often creates a "chemical" or "burnt plastic" smell during or after the repair process, Commissioner Denny Malloy told 21 News. Epoxy resins release "volatile organic compounds" while in the curing process — heat also accelerates curing, creating a stronger, short-term odor.

"Once the liner is in place, they expand it and they use the steam to cure it and the steam is also part of what's carrying the odors," Mike Welke, director of water pollution in Warren said. "They're going to probably have to do more ventilation to pull the odors out of the man holes instead of letting it go into the buildings," he said. 

In an emergency meeting, the commissioners decided to call SERVPRO to assess the buildings' safety and mitigate the chemical odors.

SERVPRO will be using "air scrubbers" and "hydroxyl generators" to clean the odor from the buildings. The scrubbers use carbon filters and HEPA filters to capture odors, bacteria and chemical vapors. While they remove those particles from the air, they do not neutralize odors that have been embedded into materials, Malloy said.

"Air scrubbers clean the air you breathe; hydroxyl generators eliminate the odors that cause the problem," Malloy said.

Bernard said they are most concerned about the safety of prisoners within the Trumbull County Jail. In a release, the commissioners state SERVPRO will have machines running to cleanse the air within the jail immediately.

The biggest concentration of the odor, however, was located in the administration building — the smell primarily traveling through the elevator shafts. 

"It's something we didn't plan on, they didn't plan on it," Malloy said. "It's kind of a routine maintenance got out of control type of situation, and for the safety of all of our citizens and safety of the people in this building, we had to let people go home. we couldn't leave them in here with this smell," he said.

No illnesses have been reported due to the chemical odor and all inmates are reported to be safe at this time. Malloy said five buildings were affected overall.

As work on the sewer line continues Thursday, Malloy said contractors won't even begin until after 4:30 to prevent another interruption in the workday.

Commissioners Malloy and Bernard also say contractors will be taking extra precautions so the jail won't be affected. They are planning to reopen all government buildings in the morning.

If anything should change concerning the reopening of these buildings, an announcement will be released on the commissioners website.

SERVPRO says it will likely be able to dissipate the odor in roughly 24 to 72 hours.