A Fall River paramedic responding to what should have been a routine call ended up needing medical treatment himself Thursday morning, after an odd smell inside a home on Quarry Street left him with burning eyes and vomiting. Two residents of the home were also hospitalized, and firefighters had to ventilate the property before anyone could safely go back inside.
According to Fall River Reporter, the hazmat-type call came in around 9:30 a.m. Thursday for 101 Quarry Street. Emergency crews had initially been dispatched for a patient experiencing shortness of breath, according to WJAR, but the call quickly escalated once the responding paramedic was overcome inside the home.
Paramedic Overcome Inside the Home
The paramedic experienced an unusual smell, eye burns and vomiting while inside the residence, per the same outlet's reporting, prompting additional EMS crews and Fall River firefighters to be called in to investigate a possible hazardous materials incident. In the end, two residents and the paramedic were all transported to local hospitals, Fall River Reporter's report notes, though their conditions afterward were not disclosed.
Firefighters located and disabled the source of the exposure and ventilated the home before the scene was cleared, WJAR reported. Fall River Police Lieutenant Matthew Mendes told the outlet that the property owner had hired someone to fumigate the residence over a pest infestation, and that a Hot Shot fogger used during that process appears to be what affected some of the tenants.
Two Dogs Rescued and Handed Off to Police
Amid the chaos, EMS crews also treated two dogs at the scene before turning them over to Fall River Police, according to the fumigation-focused account from Fall River Reporter. Officials have said there is no threat to the public and that the incident was related to actions by the homeowners, though what those actions involved beyond the reported fumigation has not been specified.
Not the First Bay State Pest or Chemical Scare
Fall River's Thursday scare echoes other recent Massachusetts incidents where household chemicals triggered major emergency responses. In Whitman, hazmat technicians once inspected a residence and found no dangerous levels of hazardous materials with a meter, but later discovered and removed a ruptured spray paint can from the basement, according to the Town of Whitman. And on Cape Cod, Yarmouth Police and Yarmouth Fire were called to a South Yarmouth home on Ocean Avenue after what began as a medical call turned into a full hazardous materials response, per CapeCod.com, which identifies Cape Wide News, prompting closure of the road and the involvement of the Massachusetts Hazardous Materials Team and State Police Bomb Squad as a precaution. That scene was eventually declared safe with no injuries to responders, the outlet reported.
No source has identified the exact nature of what made the paramedic and residents sick beyond the reported use of the pest fogger, and the specific actions taken by the Fall River homeowners remain unclear. For now, the episode stands as a reminder that even routine pest control can go sideways fast inside an occupied home.
