DARRINGTON, Washington --
The substance that poured out of a dumpster in Darrington on Thursday morning and sent 18 people to the hospital was tear gas that apparently belonged to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department, the Darrington Fire Commissioner said.
Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said the department’s civil disturbance unit has tear gas for the purposes of riot control, and periodically, the tear gas cartridges/casings expire and they are emptied in a safe place.
Hover said this was done recently in the Darrington area.
A package of the spent casings found in a dumpster in Darrington had broken open and some of the residual tear gas from the empty cartridges escaped when the dumpster was being emptied, Hover said.
The incident happened at about 10:15 a.m. and caused some people to have trouble breathing, KIRO 7 Reporter Lee Stoll said.
A worker at the scene told Stoll that two people were "in bad shape" and had the hardest time breathing.
"Some of them were scared when you can't effectively breathe right," District 24 Fire Commissioner Dennis Vincent said. "A couple of them were feeling very nauseous."
Seven people who were near the dumpster were hospitalized, along with 11 EMS workers who helped them, the fire department said.
"That's the danger of something like this, when you don't know what chemical it was, what caused the gas fumes and then exactly how many people are really affected," firefighter Jeff McClelland said.
Two of Vincent's friends ended up in the hospital.
"Knowing that they're going to be OK -- it's a relief for the whole district," he said.
UPDATE (12:02 p.m.):
Stoll said most of the victims were walking into the hospital on their own. They had to remove their clothing and shower before entering. As of noon, one person had already been discharged and had left the hospital.
UPDATE (11:48 a.m.):
Stoll said the EMS workers who helped the people exposed to the smoke are also being treated, making the total number of those exposed 18 (seven people and 11 EMS workers). All the victims have been taken to Cascade Valley Hospital.
A two-block area in Darrington, near City Hall and the fire department, was evacuated.
Hover said the tear gas is non-carcinogenic and non-lethal.
“We’re looking into how this package of empty cartridges was disposed of so we can work to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Hover.
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