SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- One hundred people were evacuated from the Sacramento County Human Assistance building at 10013 Folsom Boulevard at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday because of chemical fumes.
County employees returned to work about an hour later, after Sacramento Metro Fire was called to investigate complaints of a chemical odor.
Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum said a hazmat team determined the odor was coming from a spray texture material being used on a remodeling project and was not harmful. He said nobody required treatment.

A mystery ailment sickened 26 people, sending nine to the hospital at a law firm and call center here. What made everyone ill is still under investigation, authorities told Fox 13.

"We were just taking phone calls, doing our work and a couple of employees just started becoming nauseous," said Jay Rowley, who reported feeling light headed after smelling "propane like fumes."

The hazardous materials team found a keg of hydrous ammonia, Fire Department spokesman Greg Buelow said. They moved the unit to an isolated area to offgas. The facility was not evacuated and no injuries were reported.

Update at 2:45 p.m. by Jeff Raasch


CEDAR RAPIDS – Authorities continue to investigate what could have caused an ammonia-type odor in an evidence storage area at the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

A hazardous materials team responded to the maintenance shed at the Police Station around 11:30 a.m. and was still there trying to find the source of the smell at 2:30 p.m.

“It could be just some products that have been sitting for a period of time that are just starting to decompose,” said Dan Dall, acting battalion chief with the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. “That’s the best we can figure out right now.”

Dall said police first noticed the odor Monday, and it was even more noticeable today. Firefighters dressed in green suits and orange boots removed and contained some items from the maintenance building, and then and tested them for gases.

EAST BRUNSWICK — Police confiscated chemicals commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamines from a Route 18 office last week.

Officers and hazardous materials personnel from the county and state responded to 200 Route 18 on Feb. 10 after receiving a report of hazardous materials being stored in one of the tenants’ offices. Authorities immediately evacuated the building for the safety of the other tenants, and hazmat teams in full protective suits entered the building.

After a thorough search, officials found and removed several household chemicals that police said are commonly used to make methamphetamine.

A dangerous chemical found stored in the inner-city office of Public Health South prompted a full-scale hazardous material operation at the Invercargill Fire Service yesterday.

The incident has raised questions about how a canister of calcium cyanide, labelled "Poison Cyanogas", could sit undetected in the Spey St offices of Public Health South for 18 months.

Although one of Public Health South's roles was to offer advice on hazardous substances, the canister was simply placed in storage on the premises.

Public Health South Dunedin-based general manager Pip Stewart said the canister was dropped into the Invercargill office some time in 2009 and put into a storeroom.

It was discovered last year during an audit but staff put it back into the storeroom while they decided what to do with it.

"I don't think we would normally store anything like that," Ms Stewart said.

CORPUS CHRISTI — For dispatchers Monday at the Corpus Christi police station, an emergency occurred in their own office.

Dispatch center staff were evacuated for nearly two hours from the fourth floor of the building in the 300 block of John Sartain Street about 5 p.m. after its fire alarm system was triggered, spraying a chemical dispersant, said police spokesman Tony Acevedo.

“It was some kind of false alarm,” Acevedo said. “The fire department came and checked it out and no injuries were reported.”

Staff were moved to the department’s Emergency Operations Center at the Frost Bank Building, Acevedo said.

The building’s Halon alarm system is designed to extinguish a fire without the use of water and not damage electronics, fire officials said.

About 260 people were evacuated from a building in downtown Tokyo after a chemical odor and white smoke engulfed the structure, sickening four men, firefighters have announced.

The Tokyo Fire Department is investigating the cause of the odor, which struck Nihon Building in Tokyo's Otemachi business district on the morning of Jan. 8.

A security guard at the building called an ambulance at around 10:10 a.m., saying, "An alarm sounded and there's a chemical odor in the basement."

Firefighters who rushed to the scene found white smoke coming from the first basement floor and detected hydrogen cyanide and sulfurous acid gas.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Scientists who work at the Environmental Protection Agency’s sprawling campus in Research Triangle Park are at the forefront of research into air quality, but some have become the test subjects in an air-quality mystery that has left them so sick that they work outside the building whenever possible.

WRAL Investigates started asking questions weeks ago about work-related illnesses at the campus after workers said they felt the agency wasn't acting aggressively enough to solve the problem. On Thursday, more than seven years after the complaints first started, the EPA sent out a memo to its employees, promising change. 

Thursday's memo also mentions "visible mold growth." Yet, facilities manager Alex Montilla downplayed the mold concerns in an interview with WRAL Investigates last Friday.

Many EPA employees, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing their jobs, said they face a stigma because not everyone inside the building is affected. Some co-workers doubt the illnesses are real, they said.

Opened in November 2002, the EPA campus was touted as a state-of-the-art facility. The agency even dedicated a section of its website to discuss the extreme measures taken to protect the air quality at the facility. Inside those buildings, however, particularly inside the B wing, there's trouble in the air.

DANIA BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Employees were evacuated after they smelled a strange odor in a South Florida clinic.

A Memorial Health Care System building near Stirling Road and South Federal Highway was evacuated after workers reported a gas smell, Friday.

HazMat crews discovered the smell came from newly-installed air fresheners.

One person was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Fire Department Hazardous Material Response Team, responded to the Department of Fish and Game, located at 1740 North Market Blvd for several employees complaining of eye irritation and breathing difficulty after coming on contact with a package delivered by Federal Express.

After coming in contact and being in close proximity with a legal, letter sized package, over six employees of the Department of Fish and game began complaining of burning eyes and difficulty breathing.  Two employees were transported by Sacramento Fire Paramedics to local hospitals for their symptoms.

The department of Fish and Game called it an early day and let all the employees that were evacuated go home for the day, rather than return to work. Firefighters ventilated the building to ensure the fumes were no longer present before leaving the scene.

The substance later was identified as formaldehyde and traced back to the distribution center, where the contents of separate package leaked on to other packages.  It is presumed that the second hazmat incident located at, 3028 Peace Keeper Way was a result of the formaldehyde as well.  The package delivered to this location was delivered by a different truck; however it was sorted at the same distribution center.  Both law enforcement and fire officials have concluded these incidents were accidental.

Courthouse Evacuated After Chemical Release
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) ― The Howard County District Court building in Ellicott City has been evacuated after the release of a hazardous chemical that caused four people to suffer respiratory symptoms.

Howard County fire officials say contract workers were performing maintenance on the heating and air conditioning system when they spilled some chlorine powder Thursday afternoon. Fire officials say they believe the release was accidental.

Five police officers who were in court for cases grabbed gas masks and started evacuating the building. Firefighters and other emergency workers responded, and about 200 people were moved to safety.

Three people were taken to a hospital with respiratory distress, and a fourth patient was treated at the scene.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A HAZMAT team reported to the Wachovia building at the Metro Square office complex after a suspicious powder was found this morning.

However, the call turned out to be a false alarm.

According to Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Mike Johnson, the powder came from a job candidate interviewing on the property.

Johnson said the candidate sprinkled the powder on the property because of religious beliefs that the lucky powder when put on the doors helps secure a job.

No one was evacuated; the HAZMAT team was on site for two and a half hours.

UPDATE 1:55pm - Midland Fire Department hazardous materials technicians have further identified the specific chemical compound discovered yesterday on N. Weatherford Ave.
The chemical is identified as Monoammonium Phosphate, a compound commonly used in portable fire extinguishers. Basic field analysis of the chemical was limited to identifying the compound according to recognizable trace elements. Adenosine Triphosphate Disodium Salt was the compound identified by this preliminary analysis. A more comprehensive lab analysis was able to specificly identify the chemical compound.
Around 12:15pm, on March 17, 2010, dispatch received a call for assistance from a postal worker who had come in contact with the substance. He was trasported with respiratory symptoms and has since been released from the hsopital.

A scare Thursday Morning at a Sumter post office. Just after 8AM several workers had to be treated for chemical inhalation after opening a package.
Captain Brian Horton with the Sumter Fire Department says the chemical was a dog repellant that mail carriers use that is similar to pepper spray.
Horton says six people were treated at the post office, one person was taken to Toumey Hospital.
Everyone is expected to be ok.
Haz mat crews from the Sumter Fire Department and Shaw Air Force base cleared the scene.
The post office is now operating normally.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Fire crews responded to a local doctor’s office after a worker spilled a hazardous chemical.
The spill happened at the Primed Physician’s Office in the 7200 block of North Main Street in Harrison Township. One employee was taken to a local hospital after the spill.
Workers told News Center 7 that it smelled like a bio experiment that had gone wrong after two few gallons spilled inside the building.
Rebecca Warner said, “What a great way to start your day.”
Fire crews said a worker spilled formaldehyde in the building on Thursday morning.