LOCAL : 6 Overcome by Sulfuric Fumes at Mitsubishi Cypress Complex

Modeling clay used for making prototypes of new automobiles overheated in baking ovens and unleashed a noxious gas today that overcame six people at the Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America complex in Cypress, fire officials said.

Four firefighters and two Mitsubishi employees were treated and released at Los Alamitos Medical Center after the 7 a.m. incident. Orange County fire officials evacuated more than 600 employees from the sprawling complex in the 6400 block of Katella Avenue.

Workers were not to be allowed back in until after hazardous materials response teams conducted air tests inside a Mitsubishi design studio where the gases were concentrated.

Preliminary investigation this morning found that the modeling clay was inadvertently left baking in industrial ovens in the design studio all weekend, resulting in the release of a sulfuric gas, Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Kathleen Cha said.

Four Orange County firefighters who responded to the studio this morning on a report of smoke suffered dizziness and shortness of breath after being overcome by the gases as they entered the building.

The two Mitsubishi employees, identified by fire officials as Dave O’Connell and Paul Sckluna, suffered the same symptoms after being among the first to report for work there this morning, Fire Department spokesman Dennis Shell said.