By Peter N. Spencer
Staten Island Advance
Copyright 2007 Advance Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
NORTH SHORE, N.Y. — It began as a response to a foul odor.
But it quickly became a chaotic scene outside a North Shore apartment complex.
In the end, at least 13 people were hospitalized after three city housing workers were overcome by toxic fumes they inhaled yesterday afternoon while cleaning sewage in the basement of Richmond Terrace House in New Brighton.
The incident prompted a dramatic response from FDNY paramedics, firefighters and a Hazardous Material team.
A block of Jersey Street from Richmond Terrace to Crescent Avenue was closed off for hours while dozens of firefighters, city Housing employees and residents of the building were treated in an improvised tent for possible chemical exposure.
Some were decontaminated — stripped of their clothing, washed and then put into hospital scrubs — before being sent to the hospital for observation.
Two city workers who passed out after exposure to the cleaning chemicals were listed in serious condition at Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton, though none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, according to an FDNY spokesman.
Another victim was taken to the New York-Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Burn Center in Manhattan and treated for burns.
Also, four firefighters were treated at RUMC for minor injuries.
The incident occurred when two male custodians and an assistant superintendent of the Richmond Terrace Houses were spreading hydrated lime in a damp crawl space of 81 Jersey St.
The white powdery chemical, also known as calcium hydroxide, is commonly used to disinfect raw sewage, but can cause lung irritation, burns and internal bleeding if not properly handled.
“It’s an area that is not properly ventilated, and it appears they may have been exposed to quite a significant amount,” said FDNY spokesman Seth Andrews.
The Richmond Terrace Houses, six eight-story buildings comprising nearly 500 apartments with more than 1,300 residents, was not evacuated.
Among the first responders were the members of nearby Engine Co. 155 of West Brighton, who reported seeing a housing worker staggering outside the front entrance to 81 Jersey St., according to Andrews. While an EMS team tended to the worker outside, the firefighters ran into the basement of the building to find two other housing workers lying unconscious in the cramped space, adjacent to a utility room.
After they were pulled to safety, the two regained consciousness and showed good vital signs by the time they reached the hospital, police said.