Foul fume leads to evacuation

Alicia Robinson

Four residents checked themselves in to a local hospital Saturday and

several others were evacuated after a foul odor was reported to be

wafting from a house in their neighborhood, officials said.

Around 3:30 p.m., a resident complained of the fumes coming from

an empty home in the 300 block of Lourdes Lane, said acting Battalion

Chief Randy Croll of the Costa Mesa Fire Department.

Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach firefighters searched the home and

said it was likely that the smell came from a container of pesticide

that was dropped or broken in the backyard patio area earlier in the

day. A neighbor said someone was working in the home Saturday, Croll

said.

Firefighters evacuated about eight people whose homes were

downwind of the house and told others in the immediate area to stay

indoors temporarily, Croll said. They later learned several neighbors

had gone to Hoag Hospital after smelling the fumes, but no details

were available on their conditions, Croll said.

Two firefighters in protective suits took monitoring equipment in

and around the house and found some pesticides and chemicals that

were mostly in sealed containers. None of the readings from the

monitoring seemed sufficient to cause alarm, Croll said.

The home has been vacant for about a year but is undergoing

cleaning or renovations, Croll said.

Neighbors who were outside seemed unconcerned as they talked with

firefighters. George Sloan of La Mirada, who was at his

father-in-law’s house, said he arrived there after the firefighters

but he hadn’t smelled anything.

“They wouldn’t let us in here if something was going to happen,”

he said.

Hazardous materials and county health officials allowed evacuated

residents to come back to their homes around 7:30 p.m., officials

said.