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Food

An Apartment Building Was Evacuated After Someone Microwaved Spicy Peppers

Either the tenant was trying his hand at homemade pepper spray or he just ran out of Tabasco.
Photo via Flickr user Rebecca Wilson

Residents of an apartment complex in Rochester, New York, were forced to evacuate on Monday after one tenant's unfortunate cooking misadventure involving a microwave and some insanely spicy peppers.

According to local station 13 WHAM, firefighters first responded to the scene at around 10 AM when they received reports that residents were having trouble breathing. After clearing out the building, a HAZMAT crew was then called to brave the apartment's eye-watering interior, making its way through the plumes of accidental homemade pepper spray.

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"It seems whatever kind of pepper they were using, once its aerosolized, if you've ever gotten pepper in your eyes, you know how hard it can be on your system," the fire department lieutenant, Dana Cieslinski, told 13 WHAM.

When the HAZMAT crews got into the apartment producing the pepper fumes, they found some spicy peppers roasting inside of a microwave, like some kind of stoned attempt at a new signature hot sauce.

"I do not know what kind of pepper it was, but clearly spicy enough to effect the people in the hallway," Cieslinski said.

Thankfully no one suffered any injuries typically brought on by actual pepper spray, and residents were let back into the high-rise shortly after the peppers were removed and the place aired out a bit.

Read: My Love of Hot Sauce Is Borderline Masochistic