[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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