Noxious gas gets reaction

Andrew Edwards

Newport Beach firefighters and Costa Mesa paramedics rushed seven

Balboa Bay Club and Resort employees to Hoag Hospital Tuesday

morning, after a mixture of cleaning fluids created a noxious gas in

the resort’s kitchen, Newport Beach Fire Capt. Dennis Edwards said.

The employees were treated at the hospital and released. All seven

returned to work on Tuesday, hotel spokesman George Lysak said.

Newport Beach firefighters were called to the hotel at about 8

a.m. They evacuated 40 hotel employees after detecting a chemical

odor in the kitchen, fire department spokeswoman Jennifer Shulz said.

Additional firefighters, as well as a hazardous materials team

from Santa Ana and a Costa Mesa paramedic engine, were called in for

assistance.

The employees who were taken to the hospital reported irritation

in the eye, nose and throat areas, Edwards said.

Firefighters learned that a mixture of ammonia, bleach and drain

cleaner in a kitchen drain created the noxious odor. “A chemical

cocktail put off gas,” Edwards said.

Mixing ammonia and bleach causes a chemical reaction that produces

chloramine gas, according to the federal Environmental Protection

Agency. Exposure to chloramine gas can lead to a burning sensation,

voice loss, suffocation and death.

Emergency crews shut down the resort’s kitchen and temporarily

closed off rooms near the kitchen, briefly interrupting a conference

of the Irvine-based pharmaceutical company Allergan, Inc.

A spokeswoman with the company did not have any information to

indicate that anyone attending the conference was hurt.

After firefighters left the hotel, an inspector with the Orange

County Healthcare Agency threw out all the food stored in the hotel’s

kitchen, agency spokeswoman Tricia Arcelona said.

The inspector cleared the kitchen to resume operation after the

contaminated food was gone.

Hotel executives held a meeting Tuesday to discuss kitchen safety

procedures at the resort after the incident, Lysak said.

By Tuesday afternoon, Lysak said, the kitchen was up and running,

and business was back to normal.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards@latimes.com.