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Rotten Lunch: Stinky Fridge Sickens 28 in Calif. Office

Office complex evacuated after fridge cleanup backfires

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted May 13, 2009 1:56 AM CDT

(Newser) – An incredibly foul stench from long-forgotten lunches forced hundreds of people out of a California office complex yesterday, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Fire crews and a hazmat team were dispatched to the building and 28 people were treated for vomiting and nausea. San Jose emergency workers traced the smell to a room where a worker—who lost her sense of smell after nasal surgery—was using a combination of chemicals to clean rotten food out of a fridge.

Emergency teams in San Jose sent to an evacuated office complex tracked fumes to a fridge.
Emergency teams in San Jose sent to an evacuated office complex tracked fumes to a fridge.   (Shutter Stock)
A fire crew at the scene in San Jose said that despite the incident, they were in no rush to clean out the fridge back at the station house.
A fire crew at the scene in San Jose said that despite the incident, they were in no rush to clean out the fridge back at the station house.   (©favouritethings)
A fire chief who got a good whiff of the stench said he didn't know what rotting foodstuff it was, but that rotten stuff tends to all smell pretty much the same.
A fire chief who got a good whiff of the stench said he didn't know what rotting foodstuff it was, but that rotten stuff tends to all smell pretty much the same.   (©Daquella manera)
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