Burnt Batch of Peppers Forces Evacuation at Mall

Thirteen people were overcome by fumes at the Fallbrook Mall and part of the West Hills shopping center was evacuated for four hours Monday until the problem finally was traced to a burnt batch of peppers.

A firefighter, six security guards and six customers were treated at nearby hospitals and released after they complained of headaches and tightness in the throat and chest, Los Angeles fire spokesman Jim Wells said. About 150 people were evacuated shortly before noon from the food-service area, he said, as mall management and fire officials tried to find the source of the fumes.

The peppers finally were discovered in a trash can in the mall, apparently having been dumped there by an employee of one of the restaurants in shopping center.

The peppers caught fire during cooking, so “instead of having a pleasant pepper you have something putting out noxious fumes,” mall general manager Ed Reid said.

Reid likened customers’ symptoms to the effects of tear gas. All recovered quickly after they were removed from the area, he said.

At first, investigators thought the source might be Freon gas leaking from a refrigerator in the mall’s over-the-counter eateries, Wells said. But no leak was found.

As the “food court” stood empty until shortly before 4 p.m., the investigators pondered other possibilities, such as fumes from insecticide. But there were none.

Finally, a firefighter looking in a trash bin near the source of the noxious smell found the cayenne peppers, a very hot red pepper.

Mall customers reported seeing a man running from one of the restaurants and carrying a pan of burning peppers, Reid said.

Reid would not identify the restaurant, saying only that it is a purveyor of “spicy food.”

Reid said it’s possible the restaurant employee panicked after the peppers burned and he saw the food area evacuated.

During the evacuation, the mall’s approximately 100 stores, which are removed from the food-service area, remained open, Reid said.