[CH] In today's paper....
Marilyn Reese (plantphreak@hotmail.com)
Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:05:42 -0700
Fumes from roasting chilies make lifeguards ill
By Pauline Repard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 24, 2001
It wasn't "firehouse" chili that sent four San Diego lifeguards to the
hospital briefly yesterday.
"This was third-alarm lifeguard chili," quipped lifeguard Lt. Rick Wurts.
Noxious fumes prompted the evacuation of lifeguards from their headquarters
building and three-story tower on Quivira Court at 6:30 p.m. for half an
hour.
Four of the five guards on dispatch duty had trouble breathing and felt sick
by the fumes, Wurts said. The four were taken to a hospital, examined and
released.
"We evacuated the whole building and donned our breathing apparatus, then
went back in to check the tower and try to determine the source of the
noxious fumes," Wurts said. "The best we could find out, it was the
habaneros chilies roasting in the oven. We took them out, and the air
cleared."
Wurts said a lifeguard had put the extra-hot peppers into the oven to roast.
The peppers didn't catch fire, but the heat released chemicals into the air
that made some people ill.
And actually, Wurts clarified, the chilies were destined for spaghetti
sauce, not traditional chili.
"I'm not eating it," the lieutenant vowed.
Marilyn
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