From Crete to Crown Point, Nicor and fire departments on Wednesday received numerous calls from residents about a natural gas-like smell wafting through the air.

A Nicor investigation was unable to find a source or cause for the odor, agency spokesman Richard Caragol said.

"We can confirm it was not natural gas," he said, adding the odor can travel with the wind.

And with a southeasterly path, the odor could have come from a commercial truck or a train, said Caragol, whose agency received about 250 calls between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., from people who said they smelled natural gas.

"The majority of calls came in from Joliet, New Lenox, Glenwood, Crestwood, Crete, Richton Park, Kankakee and Monee, " he said, adding reports started in the Joliet/New Lenox area and progressed southeast into Indiana as the morning went on.

Nicor investigated every report, Caragol said, but found no positive readings at any of the homes the company went to.

Schererville Fire Chief Joseph Kruzan said fire departments in Schererville, Dyer, St. John and Crown Point investigated the natural gas smell and thought the wind may have carried the odor from the Crete area.

"We had no measurable readings in Schererville," Kruzan said in regards to the odorless gas, which has a scent added to let people know when there is a leak.

Crete had one call about a possible natural gas odor outside a residence, but it wasn't the original source, Crete Fire Chief Lyle Bachert said.

Crown Point's acting Fire Chief Mark Baumgardner Sr. said his department received a call about a natural gas odor at the Adam Benjamin Jr. VA Outpatient Clinic.

"They smelled a gas odor outside the facility," Baumgardner said. "When we arrived, the odor had dissipated."

The Crown Point Fire Department heard Crete's dispatch call about the natural gas odor outside a residence, and Baumgardner said they assumed that was the source of the smell in their municipalities.