Fumes Overcome Customers at Longs Drug Store

A Longs Drug store was evacuated Friday afternoon after foul-smelling fumes spread through the building, causing one woman to vomit and several others to faint.

Nine employees were treated for nausea and dizziness by paramedics at the parking lot of the shopping center at 581 Channel Islands Blvd. No one was taken to the hospital.

“Once they got outside, they were complaint free,” said Greg Petersen, a Gold Coast paramedic.

Employees began noticing a chemical smell in the pharmacy area toward the back of the store about 12:30 p.m. but did not call the Fire Department until three hours later, said pharmacy manager Wayne Rohrbach.

“It was nothing that you could put your finger on and say, ‘That’s Lysol,’ ” Rohrbach said, adding that the smell seemed to be coming from an air conditioning vent.

A portion of the parking lot was sectioned off for two ambulances and one fire truck. But employees at nearby stores were not overly concerned.

“I wasn’t even worried. I was just curious why there were firetrucks,” said Mobin Jafar, manager of the General Nutrition Center in the shopping center. “It didn’t seem like anything was going on. There was no visible threat.”

Fire officials closed eight shops to the east of the drug store while victims were treated and the store was ventilated. They were unable to find any cause for the smell and the store reopened at 7 p.m.