Buena Park : 45 Taken to Hospitals for Blood Tests After Chemical Cloud Forms at Plastics Firm

Forty-five people were taken to hospitals for precautionary blood tests after a carbon monoxide cloud formed Thursday outside a plastics firm when two chemicals were inadvertently mixed.

The incident occurred about 9:45 a.m. at Data Card Corp., which makes credit cards, Buena Park Fire Marshal Don Tully said. The white cloud drifted next to the 7-Up bottling plant. About 75 employees were evacuated from the two businesses when Buena Park firefighters and Anaheim’s hazardous materials team arrived.

Jim Berendsen, Data Card plant manager, said the incident occurred when a can of oxide used in the plant’s cooling system was accidentally dumped into a 55-gallon barrel that contained a water-based ink residue, which is used in silk-screening and has a low level of volatile organic compounds.

Anaheim Fire Capt. Don Zuber said the reaction produced a cloud that contained carbon monoxide.

A few people complained of dizziness and nausea, said Tully, who called the blood testing “a precautionary measure.” No one was hospitalized.

The hazardous materials team sealed off the barrel, which was carted away by Nash Salvage Inc. of Whittier. The firm is under contract to dispose of Data Card’s barrels of waste on a regular basis, Berendsen said.