TORRANCE / SEAL BEACH : Officials Fail to Find Source of Mystery Fumes

Mysterious chlorine-like odors sickened students at a Torrance church school Friday morning, and Seal Beach police later used loudspeakers to advise beach-goers and residents to go indoors after citizens’ complaints about a similar smell.

But fire officials from both cities said they were baffled as to the source of the fumes.

About 42 grade school pupils from the First Lutheran School in Torrance were examined by fire personnel after complaining of headaches, nausea and burning throats about 10 a.m. Nineteen were transported to South Bay hospitals, but all were evaluated and released with little or no problem, Capt. Tim Marcy said.

Guy Kramer, director of development at the school, said the odor was “very obvious . . . like something you’d smell around a swimming pool,” and firefighters who responded said they smelled something as well.

But hazardous materials experts could detect “absolutely nothing,” Marcy said.

“We think there was chlorine in the area, (but) it sounded a lot worse than it really was, I think,” Marcy said. “Any time you deal with kids, I don’t mind calling out all the cavalry.”

In Seal Beach, police and fire officials began receiving calls reporting a chlorine-like odor in the early evening, and they recommended that residents stay inside. Two police officers complained of throat and lung irritations, said Orange County Fire Department spokeswoman Emmy Day. But by 8 p.m. the department had stopped issuing warnings. “We would have been remiss had we not taken this seriously,” Day said.

In a third incident Friday, a 55-gallon drum of powdered chlorine was quickly determined to be the source of fumes that sent three Downey cleaning company workers to the hospital.