Ottawa Fire Services and the Ottawa Paramedic Service responded to a phosgene gas leak at a federal government office building in the Tunney’s Pasture area on Tuesday afternoon.
Fire services arrived at 251 Sir Frederick Banting Driveway at 12:11 p.m., spokesperson Nicholas DeFazio said, with the hazardous materials team following 20 minutes later.
“We got there and the building operators had shut it down and turned on the ventilation system,” DeFazio said. “We went in to check on readings to see what was present (in the air), and we found no readings.
“They had already mitigated it before we got there.”
DeFazio added that the fire team did two searches of the building to ensure everyone had been evacuated.
By 3 p.m., 10 people had been assessed with “very minor symptoms,” Ottawa Paramedic Service spokesperson Marc-Antoine Deschamps said.
“We might be assessing more patients, but as of right now no reports of anything serious,” Deschamps said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, phosgene is a toxic gas or liquid that with extended exposure can damage the skin, eyes, nose, throat and lungs. It is described as a major industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides.
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