Workers sickened at Sturbridge store

STURBRIDGE -- Thirteen Wal-Mart workers and one customer were taken to hospitals yesterday morning after they were exposed to carbon monoxide gas that spewed from a rooftop heater. The gas emission caused the second evacuation of a Massachusetts Wal-Mart store in the past three months.

On July 1, more than 50 people were sickened by an unknown airborne substance at a Danvers Wal-Mart.

In Sturbridge, the cause was immediately apparent to fire officials, who were armed with carbon-monoxide detectors. Fire Chief Leonard E. Senecal said firefighters arrived at 10:13 a.m. and traced the leak to a vent system in the lawn-and-garden section of the Charlton Road store. The fumes had been emitted from a propane heating unit on the roof, he said.

``It was cold last night, which probably caused the heating unit to turn on," Senecal said.

Workers arrived at the store as early as 7 a.m. Roughly an hour and a half later, several employees started complaining of headaches and nausea.

By 10 a.m., the store's carbon monoxide detectors went off, and store administrators began evacuating people.

As fire trucks, six ambulances, and other emergency crews showed up, at least three evacuees vomited in front of the store.

Others experienced dizziness, headaches, and nausea, Senecal said.

Those stricken were taken to Harrington Hospital in Southbridge and UMass Medical Center in Worcester, Senecal said. They were treated and released, and are expected to recover fully, he said.

Employees and administrators at the store declined to comment, but Tami Arms, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said in a telephone interview that ``the evacuation was a precautionary measure we took to ensure the safety of both our workers and customers."

By 1 p.m., it was business as usual both inside and outside the store, which is located in a shopping center off Route 20, near the Massachusetts Turnpike. Customers returned items, shopped for fertilizers and plants, and perused clothing on carousels.

But a few patrons did stop on their way to their cars to ask the blue-vested workers what the commotion had been about.

``Oh, it was carbon monoxide in the lawn-and-garden area," said a young female employee, who was standing in front of a large square bin on the front sidewalk. ``They took some people to the hospital, but everyone's fine."

Arms said a full inspection of the store was conducted before employees and workers were allowed back in.

She added that the Danvers incident remains under investigation. In that case, the city's hazardous material team set up a decontamination tent for patrons and workers.