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South End rooming house evacuated after somebody mixes cleaning supplies, creating noxious fumes

By adamg on Fri, 07/19/2019 - 12:28pm
Washington Street hazmat scene

Hazmat scene. Photo by BFD.

Boston Fire Department hazmat crews responded to 1740 Washington St., between Massachusetts Avenue and East Springfield Street, around 12:15 p.m. after somebody mixed cleaning supplies that shouldn't have been mixed, creating a cloud of irritating fumes that forced the five-story rooming house's resident to evacuate.

BFD has declared a "Level 3" hazmat response, which brings in specialized equipment and firefighters.

All residents of the building - including the occupant of the third-floor room where the odors are believed to be emanating from, were evacuated. The Boston Fire Department reports 11 firefighters and one resident were taken to the hospital for observation.

WBZ Newsradio reports one resident said the odor smelled like compost or maybe ammonia or bleach.

Neighborhoods: 
South End
Free tagging: 
Washington Street


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Comments

By MisterMagooForYou on Fri, 07/19/2019 - 3:07pm.

Somebody dropped a stink pickle near the ventilation unit. Them stink pickles can get awfully ripe in this heat. Peee-u. Magoo.

By ScottB on Fri, 07/19/2019 - 4:29pm.

And that's bad news. Never mix bleach and ammonia.

By anon on Sat, 07/20/2019 - 10:43am.

According to the BFD on scene it was bleach and Murphys Oil Soap

https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-fire-responds-to-level-3-hazmat-in-s...

By Luke Warm on Fri, 07/19/2019 - 4:08pm.

the wrong things were put in the laundry, raising organic hell, like vinegar and bleach, or bleach and borax, something. it's mustard gas

ps- no offense but everything magoo says skieves me out

By Fashionista on Fri, 07/19/2019 - 6:33pm.

The article doesn't say if the cause was purposeful (to get high) or just an accident. I'm trying to be compassionate, but this is Pine Street Inn and they are proposing 4 1/2 times the density at a site in JP. The folks in the school of thought who think concentrating homelessness is a bad thing may have a right for concern.

By anon on Sat, 07/20/2019 - 12:15am.

You don't seem to be trying very hard. This is a rooming house, not a shelter, and the people living here by definition are not homeless. This is their home.

I've also never heard that mixing ammonia and bleach can get one high, nor have I heard of anybody even trying it. I have personally known people who got injured from it while cleaning, and to my knowledge none of them were homeless at the time.

By TJX on Sat, 07/20/2019 - 9:00am.

Purposeful, to clean something, because they didn't get the message that mixing bleach with almost anything else will create toxic gases.

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 07/20/2019 - 1:47pm.

And it has nothing to do with being compassionate or the facts on the ground.

The report I heard is that fumes started coming out of a locked closet. Sounds to me like a container spilled.

Furthermore, someone who was "trying to get high" wouldn't have been so quick to call 911 and pull the fire alarm to evacuate everybody around them and bring a police response.

Finally, if you really want to try harder, there are a lot of online college level chemistry courses that can help you out here. Ones that discuss intoxicants, and ones that discuss what happens when bleach and ammonia mix.

By anon on Sun, 07/21/2019 - 10:22am.

This happens more often than one might think, and it doesn't require the chemicals to be mixed in a bucket or anything outright stupid. Also, this mixture is extremely irritating to the lungs and will most certainly not get anyone high.

It's sufficient to clean the floors with one and the walls with another (or, say, a kitchen and a bathroom), as the vapor will mix in the air.

By Blue Notes on Fri, 07/19/2019 - 8:49pm.

WHDH has a clip of Deputy Fire Chief Robert Calabrisi who reports that the noxious fumes were caused when a third floor resident mixed Murphy's Oil Soap with ammonia, causing a chemical reaction which produced "sodium hypochlorite gas, chlorine gas" .

By anon on Sat, 07/20/2019 - 7:05am.

in the City of Boston? I thought they were zoned and regulated out of existence decades ago.