TUSTIN : Toxics Crew Removes Pesticide Left at Lot
A military ammunition box containing a toxic pesticide was found abandoned in a restaurant parking lot Sunday morning, prompting emergency officials to seal off the area for several hours while the material was safely removed.
Just before 7 a.m., a coffee shop customer spotted a foot-long white box marked “poison” in a planter box under a light pole in the parking lot of Mimi’s Cafe on 17th Street. Police were called, and because markings on the box indicated that it was military material, the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station sent out its civilian hazardous-materials team.
At 11:45 a.m., the Marine base team, backed up by the Orange County Fire Department, put on protective gear and sampled the powdery material, which apparently was chloropicrin, a fumigant.
County Fire Battalion Chief Ron Blaul said chloropicrin is a potent poison that can be dangerous if inhaled or touched. The box was placed in a drum containing neutralizing materials and was hauled away for proper disposal.
“We have no idea how it got here,” Blaul said. He added that someone probably stole it from a Marine base and abandoned it there.
About 50 customers were kept inside Mimi’s Cafe and the Manzuri Coffee Shop for about two hours as a precaution.
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