Chilli fumes cause chemical scare

A CRANBOURNE resident’s backyard cooking sparked a chemical emergency scare on Tuesday night.
Ten local residents were overcome by unknown fumes, which later turned out to be fumes from strong chillies being dried out in a backyard.
Paramedics were called to treat two men who were coughing and having trouble breathing about 10.30pm.
Intensive care paramedic David Llewelyn said there were concerns that more people could become unwell.
“At one stage, there was a large number of people standing in the street and we didn’t know what had caused them to become ill,” Mr Llewelyn said.
“We had up to 10 people who were coughing and were dizzy and nauseated.
“It (the fumes) affected houses up to 150 metres away due to the still air.
Mr Llewelyn said paramedics decided to do a doorknock of other homes to make sure no-one else had been overcome, while the CFA worked to find the source of the fumes.
“It emerged that someone was drying out strong chillies in the backyard and that’s what caused the fumes. Thankfully, no-one needed treatment,” he said.