Noxious fumes sicken Downtown office workers

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Chemical fumes wafting through a Core-Columbia commercial building Monday left more than two dozen Ashford University office workers complaining of nausea, dizziness, respiratory irritation and stinging eyes, and sent several of them to hospitals for checkups.

The vapors, emanating from an epoxy-resin compound being applied to the floor of a basement parking lot, began drifting through ventilation ducts and into the structure's ground-level and second floors shortly before 1:30 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

Emergency crews tended to 25 patients at the scene and took three others, including a pregnant woman, to Sharp Memorial Hospital and UCSD Medical Center for further evaluation, SDFRD spokesman Maurice Luque said. None of their ailments were considered serious, he said.

Children in a third-floor day-care center were unaffected.

The university sent all its employees who work in the downtown building home for the day.