OGDEN, Utah — There appears to be quite the stinky situation in Ogden and South Ogden after residents complained about a foul odor coming from an abandoned meat shop in the neighborhood.
Officials investigated the shop on Tuesday.
“They got access to the building, opened it up, and found some food that had spoiled,” said Chief Mike Slater from the Ogden Fire Department. "It's an old meat-packing plant, and quite a bit of meat in there that had spoiled."
"I’ve never experienced anything like how gross this place is in my life,” said Ali Lindsey, who lives next door.
“It smells like there's like 100 bodies in there rotting. It's just so bad,” said Tate Lindsey, who also lives next door.
Kim Lindsey said the smell has been going on for months.
“In March, we noticed that nobody was coming by anymore, the owner. And then Memorial Day, we had a campout in our backyard with my kids, and we just couldn't stomach the smell that was coming out of there. There's flies everywhere,” she said.
Tate said they used to know the owner.
“They would come over for campfires and stuff, and they would have their kids come over for s'mores and stuff. And ever since then, ever since they abandoned this, they haven't been back,” he said.
The Lindsey family said they filed a complaint with the city before, but Slater said the city had to go through proper procedures first.
“They had to work through some court orders and stuff to be able to gain access to the building,” Slater said.
WATCH: HAZMAT teams clear abandoned Ogden meat business
Ali said the smell took a huge toll on their family’s social life.
“My friends come over, we can smell it through their cars with all the windows up, and it's just really embarrassing,” she said.
When it comes to finding where the owner went, Slater said it’s up to the city.
“I know that code enforcement is going to do the best they can to find the owner and occupant, and that's out of my hands. That's something the city will work on,” he said.
The Lindsey family said relatives would stop coming around due to the smell, and now that it’s finally clearing up, they’re hoping to get their life back.
“I’m going to cry, being able to have this place gone, and have my kids and my grandkids come back,” Kim said through tears, " is going to be everything to me and my husband and our family.”
Officials are saying that while the smell is very unpleasant, it is no harm to the public.
They say the abatement process is expected to take several days.
FOX 13 News also reached out to the City of Ogden as well as Ogden Police to see if there was any past history with the owner who abandoned the shop, but was told with an active investigation, no further details will be released at this time.
