On a weekday night shift, I was contacted by dispatch who advised that a small group of people who work the night shift at a law firm within one of our buildings were feeling ill and thought there was something wrong with the air quality.

I attended and found several people working within a large interior office who complained of various symptoms such as vertigo, fatigue and faintness. I thought "yeah, it's the middle of the night". I asked them if they smelled anything or why they thought it was something in the air, they couldn't give me a straight answer. I called the maintenance team to come assist me with this call since they we complaining about air quality.

One of them suggested that maybe it was the scheduled maintenance on the fans which was being conducted that night. I did remember something about fan maintenance but a phone call quickly revealed that the fan maintenance couldn't be the issue because there is always reduced fans overnight and they wouldn't be experiencing anything different than any other night.

I did a quick lap around the floor to see if there was anyone else on the floor. I found two other workers who said that they had been there all night and felt fine.

I returned to find the maintenance staff on scene who reported that airflow is as normal and that the fans are running properly. They had no suggestions.

By this point I had been on the floor for 15 minutes. I couldn't smell anything, and neither me nor any of the maintenance staff or other law firm employees felt any symptoms. I was about ready to call bullshit but then they said it ...

One of them suggested that maybe they weren't feeling well because of carbon dioxide. I think they meant carbon monoxide but it didn't matter because once it was suggested everyone agreed that they definitely were not feeling well because of carbon dioxide. It didn't matter that I explained to them we don't have combustion onsite other than cars in the parking garage and kitchen hoods in the mall restaurants. All our heating is done by steam which is created off site so we have no boilers or combustion air handling units. In fact, we don't even have natural gas in the building above the basement level.

The maintenance staff tried to back me up by saying that the parking fans and kitchen hoods are running normally but it was already decided that it was far too dangerous for them to work in this hazardous environment and that they were evacuating to fresh air. I thought this was the end of the story and that there would be angry emails in the morning but I was wrong.

Upon clearing the scene and walking through the lobby one of the employees flagged me down to hand me their cell phone. They said that the contact for the law firm Charles was on the line. I know Charles quite well so I was actually happy to talk to him. I explained everything to him that I explained to the workers on the floor and he thanked me, he said that he was glad I was on and had this site knowledge because he had just called 911 to tell them that several of his workers were sick and that they think something is wrong with the air quality inside the building. And that's when I saw the flashing lights.

7 fire trucks including hazmat and CBRN, 4 ambulances and 2 police cars pulled up to the building demanding to speak to the person in charge. (Guess that's me ...) They asked several questions about fans, air flow, hazardous chemicals, work being done inside the building, and carbon monoxide. I told them everything I had already told everyone else and they determined that the risk was low to none.

They then donned their bunker gear and SCBA's and asked me to take them to the office. After checking the air quality, they determined everything was fine and left the floor.

In the lobby EMS was tending to the victims who all had normal vitals but swore up and down that they were not feeling well and needed to leave the building for fresh air.

One truck Captain suggested on the way out the door. "Sick Building Syndrome?"

"Fuck, I dunno ... maybe." Replied the other.

The employees decided to leave for the night. I called Charles back to tell him and he thanked me for my effort.

What did I learn? - The mind is a powerful thing. It took one person to convince everyone in that room that they weren't feeling well and no amount of proof could convince them it was safe to stay in the building.

Also, if you want a fast response time with 911 tell them that several people are sick inside a building due to poor air quality.