Death Probed for Link to Chemical Spill

Authorities are investigating whether the on-the-job death this week of a 39-year-old man at a Glendale pest control firm is related to a chemical spill there.

Patrick S. Stevenson, a Chino resident and sales manager for the firm, was found unconscious near his car in the parking lot of Orkin Exterminating Co. on Wednesday afternoon and was pronounced dead 90 minutes later at Glendale Memorial Hospital, officials said.

Battalion Chief Donald R. Biggs of the Glendale Fire Department said it has not been determined whether the death was prompted by exposure to chemicals. A Los Angeles County coroner’s preliminary report showed that Stevenson suffered from “severe heart disease” but results of toxicological tests will not be known for about a month, spokesman Dean Gilmour said.

However, a Glendale Memorial Hospital doctor who examined Stevenson told police that he died of a heart attack that may have been caused by an “organic phosphate poison.”

Authorities said that the spill occurred while Orkin, which is relocating its office to Pasadena, was cleaning up its back lot on South Glendale Avenue. On Tuesday afternoon, the Glendale Fire Department responded to a call about foul odors at the site and found Orkin employees washing out drums that contained chemical residues of the pesticides malathion and diazinon, Biggs said. He said some of the liquid mixture had washed into the street.

Later in the day, a Los Angeles County Health Department hazardous materials team found and removed three five-gallon drums of ethylene dibromide, a carcinogenic chemical banned for pesticide use by the Environmental Protection Agency. Authorities said one drum had a leak.

Despite earlier reports to the contrary, Stevenson was not present at Tuesday’s spill, Battalion Chief Don Biggs of the Glendale Fire Department said.

An Orkin spokesman refused to comment on the incident.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office is investigating whether Orkin illegally stored or discharged any hazardous materials.