74 Hurt as Fumes Hit Detroit Court : Workers Flee, Prisoners Are Moved in Mass Evacuation

Toxic fumes spread through a crowded downtown Detroit courthouse where criminal trials were in session Friday morning, forcing a mass evacuation as dozens of office workers, security personnel and visitors were overcome, police said.

At least 74 people, including several police officers, were taken to one of three hospitals after the unidentified fumes forced the emptying of the Detroit courthouse at about 11 a.m. At least two persons were expected to remain hospitalized, but hospital spokesmen said that many others would be released Friday night after treatment for toxic inhalation. No patient’s condition was described as critical.

Detroit police quickly sealed off the 36th District court building, which had been a warehouse for a department store before a recent renovation. They transferred about 40 prisoners from holding cells in the courthouse to other jails.

Police said Friday night that the cause of the fumes had not yet been determined, but that a natural gas leak was considered unlikely. Hospital officials said they could not yet identify which toxic substance had caused the illnesses, but there were reports that chemical solvents used to clean the building’s boilers may have entered the air supply.

Location, Safety Scored

Some building staff members criticized the facility. District Judge Patrick Donahue, who was inside when the fumes spread, said that the new courthouse is far from other police and court operations, and lacks any secure way to evacuate prisoners in an emergency.

Police officers wearing gas masks reportedly had to search the building after the incident, to make sure no prisoners had escaped. Some exits were locked, workers added, and workers and prisoners apparently had to use elevators to leave the building.

Officials of a police union that is trying to organize security personnel at the courthouse also attacked the city’s handling of the incident. They called for an investigation by state and local health officials.

“We are concerned about the lack of emergency exits--to get out, the people were forced to use elevators, and that’s the worst place to be in that kind of situation,” said Fred Timpner, union business agent for the Michigan Assn. of Police.

The Madison Center court building, on the eastern edge of the downtown area, was opened last December after extensive conversion work. It previously was a warehouse of the J. L. Hudson department store chain.