Photo via OnScene.TV.
Firefighters evacuated a Garden Grove hotel floor after guests and responders fell ill due to pepper spray that was in the air.
Firefighters initially responded to Candlewood Suites, located at 12901 Garden Grove Blvd., for a medical aid call but while there, responders began to feel a “scratchy feeling” in their throats, said Garden Grove Fire Capt. Thanh Nguyen.
Firefighters Wednesday upgraded the call to a hazmat response at 9:34 p.m. and multiple units, including firefighters from Anaheim and Huntington Beach, assisted and evacuated the hotel’s third floor.
The third floor had 22 guests occupying 16 rooms, Nguyen said. The guests in one room refused to leave and responders determined it was OK for them to shelter in place, he added.
Firefighters found pepper spray in one of the rooms that had gotten out into the hallway, Nguyen said.
No one was treated or taken to a hospital and everyone who evacuated was either relocated to another floor or another hotel, he said.
The source of the pepper spray was under investigation.
—City News Service