Noxious gas gets reaction
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Andrew Edwards
Newport Beach firefighters and Costa Mesa paramedics rushed seven
Balboa Bay Club and Resort employees to Hoag Hospital Tuesday
morning, after a mixture of cleaning fluids created a noxious gas in
the resort’s kitchen, Newport Beach Fire Capt. Dennis Edwards said.
The employees were treated at the hospital and released. All seven
returned to work on Tuesday, hotel spokesman George Lysak said.
Newport Beach firefighters were called to the hotel at about 8
a.m. They evacuated 40 hotel employees after detecting a chemical
odor in the kitchen, fire department spokeswoman Jennifer Shulz said.
Additional firefighters, as well as a hazardous materials team
from Santa Ana and a Costa Mesa paramedic engine, were called in for
assistance.
The employees who were taken to the hospital reported irritation
in the eye, nose and throat areas, Edwards said.
Firefighters learned that a mixture of ammonia, bleach and drain
cleaner in a kitchen drain created the noxious odor. “A chemical
cocktail put off gas,” Edwards said.
Mixing ammonia and bleach causes a chemical reaction that produces
chloramine gas, according to the federal Environmental Protection
Agency. Exposure to chloramine gas can lead to a burning sensation,
voice loss, suffocation and death.
Emergency crews shut down the resort’s kitchen and temporarily
closed off rooms near the kitchen, briefly interrupting a conference
of the Irvine-based pharmaceutical company Allergan, Inc.
A spokeswoman with the company did not have any information to
indicate that anyone attending the conference was hurt.
After firefighters left the hotel, an inspector with the Orange
County Healthcare Agency threw out all the food stored in the hotel’s
kitchen, agency spokeswoman Tricia Arcelona said.
The inspector cleared the kitchen to resume operation after the
contaminated food was gone.
Hotel executives held a meeting Tuesday to discuss kitchen safety
procedures at the resort after the incident, Lysak said.
By Tuesday afternoon, Lysak said, the kitchen was up and running,
and business was back to normal.
* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be
reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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