Hazmat Scare Left Residents Out in the Cold

Mike Patane was working at the  at the corner of Magnolia and Baden avenues Tuesday afternoon when, in his words, "all hell broke loose."

Around 3 p.m., the fire department received a call that a building inspector working at 552 Second Lane had become ill, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

About half an hour later, residents nearby the home were evacuated from the street, according to the Chronicle. The building inspector was taken to the San Mateo Medical Center.

"Nobody was talking," said Patane, who gathered with residents outside the barricades to see what was going on. Patane's home on Commercial Avenue backs up onto Second Lane.

It turned out that pesticides left in a garbage can for unknown reasons caused the chemical smell and illness. Residents watched for hours while the street was sealed off and a Hazmat team from Belmont removed the material.

"I was standing around freezing my butt off," Patane said.

"I asked the fire people, and they said they don't know what's going on," said Vinesh Datt, a four-year resident of Magnolia Avenue who lives close to Second Lane.

The street smelled like Clorox, according to resident resident Diana Montalban.

Josie Regala got home from work around 5:15 p.m. and wasn't allowed into her home at 562 Second Lane, where she's lived for 10 years. She was concerned about her dog, but she said firefighters told her couldn't retrieve it.

"My dog is like a human being for me," Regala said.

Regala ended up sitting in her car until about 9 p.m., when she was let back inside her home. She stayed home on Wednesday because she said she didn't have further information about the incident and what to expect.

"They're not telling us anything else so far," she said.

The opened its doors to residents who had been evacuated at the request of the fire department, according to Laura Gigi, Magnolia Senior Center program coordinator. About 20 residents stayed in the center from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and ate pizza, doughnuts and coffee, Gigi said.

Not two weeks ago, . And just a couple blocks away on First Lane, .

"It used to be a quiet neighborhood," Patane said.