Packed Calif. Mall Evacuated After Chemical Scare
Source San Jose Mercury News (California)
As thousands of shoppers packed the Oakridge Mall in San Jose for some last-minute gift buying Friday, firefighters and hazardous material crews came rushing in for a chemical scare.
Firefighters evacuated the lobby of the mall's Century 20 movie theater for an hour-and-a-half and took one man whose eyes and throat were irritated to the hospital. But otherwise the biggest disturbance was all those fire trucks and ambulances blocking busy mall traffic and parking, said fire Capt. Mike Van Elgort.
"It appears that Sherlock Holmes is a popular one," Van Elgort joked. "The mall was packed. Everybody's after those Air Jordans."
The sickened man, who has since been checked out of the hospital, reported his symptoms to mall management about 2 p.m. Some 35 firefighters and hazmat crews from San Jose and Santa Clara County fire departments responded and eventually determined the problems originated in the second floor bathroom of the lobby.
The verdict was a simple one: Someone cleaning the bathroom floors and toilets used too much Betco "green cleaner," a non-toxic cleaning agent available over the counter, and the ventilation system in the theater didn't get the fumes out quickly enough, Van Elgort said.
"It's just like you would do in your own bathroom if you poured too much into your toilet," Van Elgort said, adding the cleaner wasn't mixed with bleach or any other products.
No one else was injured in the ordeal.
"Everybody else either left the scene or was not exposed," he said.
The rest of the mall and the actual theater functioned normally throughout the response, and the first-floor lobby to the theater re-opened about 3:25 p.m. Crews were still cleaning up the bathroom Friday evening before re-opening the restroom, however.
Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705.
