Hazmat Team Called In

A worker who became ill after inhaling fumes while mixing paint at the Nevada County Recycle Center was recovering at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital on Friday night.

The emergency launched staff into a hazardous-materials protocol they had just practiced earlier this week.

Lonnie Allen, a Waste Management worker at the county's McCourtney Road Transfer Station on Wolf Mountain Road, was in stable condition Friday night and appeared to be recovering well, supervising nurse Lee Jasmin said.

Allen was pouring one-gallon buckets of paint into 55-gallon drums when he became dizzy and began vomiting. The chemical fumes hadn't been identified by Friday night, said Battalion Chief Tim Fike of the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District.

"We don't know what the substance is. We may never know," Fike said, noting Allen had combined several different cans of paint before becoming ill.

Reported at 12:28 p.m., Allen's illness launched an investigation that turned up no other injuries and a decontamination effort that involved the Grass Valley police and fire departments, the Sheriff's Department, the county Environmental Health Department, the county Office of Emergency Services, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Sierra Nevada Ambulance and the Red Cross.

A CDF Hazardous Material Team from Marysville took samples of the substance and turned them over to Environmental Health for testing, Fike said

Allen was pouring latex and oil-based paints when he became ill, but it's possible another substance interacted with the paint, Fike said.

Outside the hospital, Allen and the first four rescuers at the scene - two Consolidated firefighters and two ambulance crew members - were sprayed down with water and their clothes were bagged.

Seven workers at the Recycle Center were questioned, but it was determined they weren't affected by the fumes and didn't require decontamination.

Both the fire engine and ambulance were also washed, said Fike, who called the effort a well-coordinated response. He said the suspected contaminant will be turned over to a county-contracted hazardous waste hauler.

"From my perspective, it all went very well with all the agencies that have to deal with this stuff," Fike said.

Jasmin said it helped to that the hospital staged a rehearsal so soon before the real thing.

"They did a very good job of doing the drill just two days ago, and I think it's very fresh in our minds," she said.

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