Mystery Fumes Trigger More Complaints : But Firefighters Find No Health Hazard, or Cause, for Second Day

For the second time in two days, employees at an Irvine office tower near John Wayne Airport called in county fire officials to check on mysterious, sickening odors, but firefighters found no health hazard.

Office workers at the 10-story MacArthur Plaza opposite the airport said they believe that the fumes were exhaust from an unusually large number of private jets taking off after Sunday’s Super Bowl football game, but county fire and airport officials said they were unable to prove or disprove the theory.

Denis R. Horn, airport operations chief, said Tuesday afternoon that he may ask the South Coast Air Quality Management District to investigate the matter. SCAQMD officials said the Federal Aviation Administration has jurisdiction over airport-related pollution episodes. The FAA agreed but said it has received no report of any incident to investigate.

700 Evacuated

More than 700 employees were evacuated from the building Monday after eight workers showed symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Early Tuesday, county fire investigators went to the office tower after some workers complained again of a slight smell of jet fuel or exhaust but found nothing when they arrived at the scene.

Paul Fath, the building’s manager, could not be reached for comment.

Despite additional complaints from office workers Tuesday morning, county fire officials said they found only normal, safe levels of carbon monoxide when they tested the air in the building Tuesday.

“There was no health hazard,” said Patti Range, a Fire Department spokeswoman. Robert E. Merryman, the county’s environmental health officer, said the carbon monoxide readings obtained Tuesday were .08 parts per million. “That’s not bad at all,” said Merryman. “You can breathe normally with .50 parts per million.”

The number of jet flights out of John Wayne Airport has increased dramatically in recent years, but county officials said Tuesday that additional automobile traffic in the airport area is responsible for much more carbon monoxide pollution than jet exhaust or fueling operations.

In 1984, the county environmental impact report prepared for the planned expansion of the airport showed that today’s level of aircraft operations would generate about 8.76 tons per day of carbon monoxide, compared to 10.34 tons per day from street traffic.