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Hot peppers the culprit in apartment evacuation

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By the Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, Mar 13, 2008 - 10:34:12 pm CDT

Firefighters called to investigate an irritating odor evacuated residents of an apartment at 645 S. 20th St. Thursday night.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Pat Borer said firefighters were called at about 7:30 p.m. and evacuated the apartment building. They checked the building for harmful chemicals and gases but didn’t find anything.

It was not a gas leak, Borer said. Firefighters thought it might be pepper spray at first.

Story Photo

They ventilated the building and let residents return, but were called back after a resident called to say the odor was still strong in her apartment, Borer said.

Firefighters were continuing to investigate until shortly after 9:30 p.m., when they determined the cause — hot peppers.

“They did a little more investigation and found one of the second-floor residents was cooking peppers, hot peppers, and that was the source of the fumes in the air that everybody was breathing,” Borer said.

The American Red Cross relocated three families for the night.


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huh? wrote on March 14, 2008 1:14 am:
" Relocated for hot peppers? "
shocked wrote on March 14, 2008 7:27 am:
" Relocated!!! Open up a window, put a scarf over your face!! Being relocated by the red cross should be reserved for people who have lost their homes not for people put out by the smell of hot peppers..come on, people, that is ridiculous!!! You should be embarrassed. "
Buddha wrote on March 14, 2008 7:54 am:
" Sounds like someone needs a good cooking lesson. I've cooked hot peppers before and it didn't do this much "damage". Sigh, must have been a rookie! "
Pepper lover wrote on March 14, 2008 8:01 am:
" Relocated by the Red Cross?????? Why?? How do you justify the expenditure of these funds that were donated
for the purpose of helping people in trouble??? "
JA wrote on March 14, 2008 8:18 am:
" When I read the headline of this article I immediately knew what this was about, ok I am guessing the tennants that were cooking were hispanic, why do I say this? My mom fries those red dried serrano peppers (I think they're called) to make her famous salsa, and it can really fill up the house with smoke, but we just open the doors & windows, the taste of that salsa is worth the hassle! ;0) "
silence dogood wrote on March 14, 2008 8:43 am:
" what a waste of time and money for LFD and the Red Cross. Take two seconds and figure out the problem for yourself, surprised they didnt called LPD, LES, and Aquila. "
Mary wrote on March 14, 2008 8:50 am:
" I'll have what she's having. "
M wrote on March 14, 2008 8:50 am:
" Don't be so harsh about the Red Cross relocating. If the families had small children or someone with asmtha then it would make sense. Perhaps the offending cook could make a donation to the Red Cross to offset the costs due to their error. "
How weird wrote on March 14, 2008 8:51 am:
" I don't even know what to make of this. "
Husker12 wrote on March 14, 2008 8:52 am:
" Better to be evacuated during the cooking process than during the post digestive process. I don't know about you but peppers give me horrific gas. "
Lindsay wrote on March 14, 2008 8:56 am:
" How bad must it have been for people to be relocated by the red cross? "
sunny wrote on March 14, 2008 9:00 am:
" You should have been useing argintina peppers they are really hot or you should have used death sause crystals for you cooking, but those might be illgel in the us now. "
CleanCaveman wrote on March 14, 2008 9:28 am:
" Have you ever experienced pepper spray? Unless you have then shut up about "opening a couple of windows" and "put a scarf over your face and deal with it"! These people were relocated for a good reason. "
sallie mae wrote on March 14, 2008 9:36 am:
" Better get the government involved and make it illegal to fry hot peppers. Sounds worse than second hand smoke. "
kan wrote on March 14, 2008 10:09 am:
" Yeah Buddies!!Feel it HOTOTHOT!!Nothing better for your soul than jalapenos frying in butter with scrambled aggs and chorizo!!! "
Wow wrote on March 14, 2008 11:03 am:
" To CleanCaveman: Pepper spray and the smell of cooking peppers is two completely different things. You are comparing apples to oranges. Pepper spray is a concentrate used for self defense sprayed on or at a person. Cooking peppers is something that is you can eat! "
guru wrote on March 14, 2008 12:20 pm:
" Wowsers! This is funny.... but wait for the next morning and I bet you will hear screaming so loud you think the local fire department is coming again! "
LL wrote on March 14, 2008 12:50 pm:
" well, speaking from the experience of having asthma and apparently being allergic to peppers, i can understand this one completely. my husband only has to be cutting up certain of his peppers when i walk into the kitchen and breath the oils released into the air and i start having an asthma attack and allergy reactions. once at a restaurant i was served hot instead of mild barbecue sauce and had a similar experience when i ate it. so lay off, folks, have a little compassion, and trust that our emergency professionals and volunteers know what they're doing! "
Cheap housing wrote on March 14, 2008 1:01 pm:
" It's typical that no one mentions the fact we can't even live in dwellings sound enough to prevent cooking smells from escaping in cheapo-America.. Apartment living in this country is terrible. "Hear, feel and smell your neighbors". If I hear one more home owner complain about how awful it is to own a home...


"
Beedle wrote on March 14, 2008 1:29 pm:
" Stories like this make life worth living.

"
d wrote on March 14, 2008 3:30 pm:
" gee, I guess I should have called the fire department last night -- my downstairs neighbors were burning something in their grill, and it sure wasn't food. It smelled horrible, but I just closed the window. "
Ummm...yeah! wrote on March 14, 2008 9:22 pm:
" So let me get this right...it took TWO trips to the apartment building to figure out it was an upstairs neighbor cooking? Yeahhhh about that...gee that was some great detective work now wasn't it!
As far as the Red Cross is concerned...I am going to choose to give them the bennefit of the doubt and pray to God that there was good reason to evacuate. For example it must have been HORRENDOUS and there must have been breathing issues. Otherwise, I am VERY disapointed in their decision. I have always thought the Red Cross was for people who seriously needed help like a fire or flood etc not upsetting food smells??? "

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