Chemical incident blamed on burned chillies

A CHEMICAL incident which saw 11 people evacuated from their homes Sunday night (January 16) is being blamed on chilli being cooked.

Some of the people living in a three storey building in Sydenham Avenue, Sydenham, were coughing and spluttering as they were led out of the property at around 10.30pm.

Ambulance staff treated one woman at the scene. The patient, who is believed to be in her 30s, did not need hospital treatment.

This incident was originally called in to the emergency services as a gas leak but this was quickly ruled out and it was treated as chemical.

Firefighters wearing special suits designed for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents then entered the building to detect the source of the fumes.

But the CBRN team did not find any sign of any chemical leak in the property and at 11.53pm they reported to the police that they were putting it down to burned chillis.