The Region - News from Dec. 20, 1985

The Santa Ana and Orange County fire departments responded to reports of a chlorine gas cloud in Santa Ana, but it apparently caused no injuries. Pat McHugh of the Santa Ana Fire Department said a motorist on her way to work near the intersection of Pullman Street and Carnegie Avenue reported seeing a “bluish-gray cloud.” Other area residents phoned fire and police officials to report eye irritation and some difficulty breathing. Officials sealed off a four-square-block area bordering the Costa Mesa Freeway at Warner Avenue for a short time, but “it seems as though as soon as the cloud was discharged, it was gone,” McHugh said. The source of the emission was Gemini Industries, at 2311 S. Pullman Ave., according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. However, U.V. Rao, executive vice president of Gemini Industries, said the company, which recovers platinum from automobile catalytic converters, did not use chlorine on the premises and that the facility was not the source of any emission.