8 Fall Ill at Gym in La Habra

About 200 people left a La Habra fitness center late Tuesday after 50 of them complained of dizziness and breathing difficulties because of what some described as a strange odor.

Eight people were taken to hospitals for observation, said Ed Lazar, a spokesman for the La Habra Fire Department. “They had very minor breathing problems,” he said, “Nothing that required extreme medical attention, nothing life-threatening.”

The source of the noxious odor is under investigation, Lazar said. “It irritated so many people that they went out to the parking lot,” he said.

The incident happened about 9 p.m. at the LA Fitness in the 1600 block of West Imperial Highway.

Greg Nguyen, 24, was playing racquetball with a friend when he saw everybody marching out of the building and decided to follow. “When we got outside, we saw a whole bunch of people sitting on the ground choking, trying to catch their breath,” said Nguyen, a biochemist. “It smelled like sulfur or something sulfur-based.”

His friend Trevor Speer said he got a strong whiff as he was leaving and felt it in his lungs for at least an hour. “It was surreal,” he said. “Just seeing everybody filter out like that, my first though was, ‘Uh oh, anthrax.’ ”

Lazar said there was no evidence of anthrax or any other toxic material at the 58,000-square-foot facility. Early reports that some patrons had been hit with pepper spray were unconfirmed, he said.

Chris Roman, an employee, said the smell came on rapidly and unexpectedly. “It hit hard,” he said, “All of a sudden.”

The fitness center, which usually closes at midnight, shut down early as officials searched to find the source of the fumes.

“We are in the preliminary stages of trying to figure this out,” said Ed Borrowe, the center’s general manager. “We certainly hope to be back open tomorrow.”