Parts of Ridgeland nursing home evacuated after exposure to chlorine gas, fire chief says
More than half of the people in the Ridgeland Nursing Center in Jasper County were evacuated Monday morning after parts of the building were exposed to chlorine gas, according to Ridgeland Fire Department chief Bradley Bonds.
Bonds said the chemical is no longer a threat, but around 9 a.m. a member of the cleaning crew mixed together two household cleaning agents to clean the ice machine and accidentally created chlorine gas, which caused some people in the nursing home to have difficulty breathing. The exposure was not life-threatening, he said.
Of the 109 people in the nursing home at the time, 61 were exposed to the chemical, and 20 of those were taken to the hospital after reporting symptoms such as trouble breathing, Bonds said.
Crews from Jasper and Beaufort counties were on the scene working to decontaminate the nursing home, expected to be complete by 2:30 p.m.
No other nearby buildings, including Polaris Tech Charter School, were affected by the chemical although the school was placed on a lockdown as a precautionary action.
In addition to the Ridgeland Fire Department, Bonds said Jasper County Fire-Rescue, Bluffton Township Fire District, Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Fire-Rescue, Colleton County Fire-Rescue, Beaufort County EMS, Hampton County EMS, and Ridgeland Police Department all responded to the scene.
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 11:19 AM.
