Air unit blamed for hospitalizations, evacuation at Health Department

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Hamilton County Health Department had to be evacuated this morning following multiple people becoming sick.

Captain Terry Knowles, the Special Operations Chief with the Chattanooga Fire Department said, “People were feeling nauseous, dizzy, sick, had a smell that was burning something in their eyes.”

The evacuation of the health department led to an investigation into what could be the cause of the mysterious odor making multiple patients and staff ill.

Capt. Knowles said, “We sent our hazmat crews in with air monitors to try to monitor and investigate the building and see what was going on inside the building. At the time, all air quality inside the building reported as good.”

However, the cause of the illnesses came from above.

Courtesy of Chattanooga Fire Department

“We know there was some work being done to the HVAC unit up on the roof.”, said Capt. Knowles. “Some amount of refrigerant had been lost in that process, and so based on the symptoms people were complaining on and based on MSDS sheets for the refrigerant, the symptoms are the same, and the complaints are the same.”

The unit blamed is a R410A refrigerant, which according to the Health Department was undergoing maintenance.

These units, if not properly taken care of, can pose issues.

Kevin Bode, a service technician with Bailey’s Heating and Air, said, “They run under high pressure, so, sometimes if the unit is working harder than it needs to it will build up an abnormal amount of pressure and everything, so yeah sometimes the coils can burst, and what that does is, it causes asphyxiation. It displaces oxygen.”

Chattanooga firefighters say this is not something they commonly see.

However, there are some safety tips to avoid this happening in your own home or business.

Bode recommends, “You should always have proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and a certified technician work on a refrigeration system, or an air conditioning system.”

He also recommends getting your unit checked every six to 12 months.

The Health Department has since reopened but they have temporarily closed their family planning and sexual health clinics.

Nine people were treated for their illness, and five had to be taken to the hospital.