Bug Spray Routs 100 Workers; 24 Treated

Fire officials evacuated more than 100 people from Pacific Bell’s offices in Irvine on Monday when employees complained of dizziness, nausea and headaches after being exposed to fumes from an insecticide that had been sprayed over the weekend.

Twenty-four employees from Pacific Bell’s telemarketing office in the 16700 block of Von Karman Avenue were taken to four local hospitals. All but two were were released after treatment for chemical exposure, hospital officials said. Two employees, one with asthma and the other with a low heart rate, remained for monitoring at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Employee Sonya Talavera said she could not breathe properly after starting her shift at 9 a.m. She was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where she was treated and released.

“I felt like I had a fever. My cheeks were flushed. My throat was hurting and my eyes were dried. I couldn’t take full breaths,” Talavera said.

Employees told fire officials that they smelled pesticide shortly after entering the two-story building Monday morning, Orange County Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Whitaker said.

Pacific Bell spokesman Michael Runzler said that Los Angeles-based Guarantee Pest Control Inc. had sprayed the office Saturday with diazinon, a chemical that attacks fleas and other insects. According to the Center for Poison Control in Orange, diazinon is moderately low in toxicity and not lethal unless swallowed in large amounts. When inhaled, it can cause headaches and dizziness.

The Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Response Team performed chemical tests at the building after firefighters used smoke ejectors to cleanse the air in the office building.

But after the evacuation, Whitaker said, health officials were not able to find any trace of toxic substances in several air tests. Building employees were allowed to return in the early evening hours.

Pacific Bell office manager Gloria Corey said employees had tried to air the office by leaving the doors open, but operators began feeling ill near midday.

Employee Vicki McIntosh said everything in the office, including phone books and office supplies, smelled like bug spray.

“It was a real musty odor. People were running outside just to breathe,” McIntosh said.

The county Fire Department was called by employees after several operators began complaining of ailments that included sore throats, difficulty in breathing and itchy eyes.

Pacific Bell spokesman Runzler said the company planned to clean the office carpeting Monday night and reopen the office today.

Del McBryde, president of the Communications Workers of America local that represents about 75 employees at that Pacific Bell office, said the union will ask the company to insert a statement in each employee’s file saying that they were affected by the spray.

Times staff writer Kevin O’Leary contributed to this report.