Members of a hazardous materials response team from Salem, top center, search a mailbox in front of a home on Southeast Edgewater Lane in Bend on Wednesday afternoon. The team was called to investigate a strange smell coming from the home.

An unusual smell wafting through a southeast Bend neighborhood on Wednesday led police and fire officials to block off streets, ask residents to stay indoors and call for help from a Salem-based hazmat team.

About 10:40 a.m., someone called from Southeast Fifth Street, near Southeast Wilson Avenue and Southeast Edgewater Lane, to report smoke in the area. Firefighters who came to check it out didn’t find any smoke, but they did notice an unusual odor.

With the help of the Bend Public Works Department, fire officials tested the air and pinpointed the smell to a house on Edgewater Lane, which was vacant at the time. Bend Deputy Fire Marshal Larry Medina said the tests didn’t turn up anything hazardous and there didn’t appear to be anything unusual around the home.

But because it wasn’t clear what was causing the smell, firefighters stayed out of the house.

Around noon, officials called in the regional hazardous materials response team. The team was unable to locate the source of the odor. Medina said in a statement released Wednesday night that the odor had dissipated and “no hazard exists at this time.”

“When you’re not able to identify the source, you suspect the worst,” he said earlier in the day. “It didn’t smell like smoke or wood burning. … It was unusual.”

Medina said it was hard to describe the smell, but compared it to the odor left by fireworks that have recently been set off, with a bit of a sulfur scent.

Police and a few curious onlookers were on the scene through the afternoon, waiting for the arrival of the team from Salem.

Devyn Kilby, 19, who was watching with her mother, Barbara, said the house officials were investigating belongs to her grandparents, who were not at home on Wednesday morning. Both women said they weren’t sure what could be causing the strange smell.

As the hazmat team held a safety briefing and pulled on heavy-duty protective clothing, complete with two jumpsuits, gas masks, oxygen tanks and helmets, neighbor Joanna Jones, 16, snapped photos of the scene on her cell phone.

Her mother, Stephanie Jones, 42, said she wasn’t overly concerned about the situation because she was familiar with the residents of the house that seemed to be the source of the smell.

“They’re very nice, very safe people,” she said.

Medina said incidents that require the help of the specialized team are rare, adding that Wednesday’s call was the first in more than a year.

“It’s one of those low-frequency, high-hazard events,” he said.