Mysterious Fumes Force Evacuation of 700 From Building

More than 700 employees were evacuated Monday from an Irvine office tower near John Wayne Airport after eight workers showed symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, although authorities were unable to trace the cause of the nausea, headaches and burning eyes.

One firefighter armed with a gas meter emerged from the building and announced that the carbon monoxide levels found inside were about equal to those found on “a really smoggy day.”

Puzzled investigators and a Southern California Air Quality Management District official said they suspect that airplane emissions from the airport--located across the street from the building--had found their way into the 10-story MacArthur Plaza tower. But they said they don’t know how that might have happened.

The victims, all of them women, were taken to nearby hospitals as the Orange County Fire Department evacuated the building about 9 a.m. The women reported various symptoms that are usually linked to carbon monoxide exposure but were treated and released by noon, hospital officials said.

However, “air quality-wise, it was a pretty good day,” said SCAQMD spokesman Ron Ketchum, who called the Irvine incident “a freak thing.”

Ketchum said the highest carbon monoxide reading Monday in the entire Southern California basin was in Costa Mesa, “and even that was in the very good range.”

However, Ketchum said, the SCAQMD has received “several complaints”--at least two of them this month--from the same area by people who said they believed that they had been exposed to airplane emissions from the nearby airport. And district inspectors will investigate those complaints as well as Monday’s incident, Ketchum said, adding that federal authorities will have jurisdiction if aircraft emissions are involved.

An odor described as that of diesel fuel was reported to the Orange County Fire Department at 8:48 a.m., spokesmen said Tuesday.

Because of the description of the smell and the fact that it had been reported on nearly every floor of the structure, Capt. Patrick McIntosh said, the department’s hazardous materials response team, three fire trucks, a ladder truck, paramedics and three ambulances were dispatched to the scene.

Shortly after 9 a.m., firefighters began evacuating workers, one floor at a time, and paramedics treated those who complained of nausea, dizziness, burning eyes and throats-- symptoms resembling carbon monoxide poisoning, McIntosh said.

But gas meter readings throughout the building showed levels of carbon monoxide similar to those found on a smoggy day, firefighters said. They concluded that the noxious fumes probably were generated from outside of the building and may have been sucked inside through air conditioning or other ventilation ducts.

Fumes Dissipated

At 10:15 a.m., the Fire Department determined that the air conditioning system had dissipated the fumes, and employees who had cleared the area began trickling back into the building, which recently was purchased by Shuwa Investments of Irvine.

“I had burning eyes and a burning throat,” said Linda Rusmisel, who works for Merrill Lynch & Co., as she returned to the building. “We’re near the outside windows on the second floor. We thought it was from the planes because they sometimes (cause) this. But it was much worse than usual this morning.”

While air quality in Orange County was very good Monday, the AQMD’s Ketchum said, local conditions such as “traffic and airplanes” can create a temporarily high level of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere.

“It sounds to me like it was probably due to some localized condition, and that probably was the airport,” Ketchum added. “If it is exhaust emissions, we can’t do anything about that. Its federal jurisdiction, probably FAA.”

Airport Manager George Rebella could not be reached for comment.