Sheffield man creates ‘toxic cloud’ while cleaning his toilet as chemical incident declared

Firefighters, paramedics and a ‘specialist chemical incident team’ were called to a house on Chantrey Road in Woodseats after the mishap occurred when someone was cleaning his toilet.

He had accidentally mixed a Domestos branded limescale remover with W5 bleach, causing a chemical reaction which filled the bathroom with potentially deadly chlorine gas on the morning of Saturday, October 3.

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The hapless resident, who it turns out is a chemistry teacher, quickly realised his error and knowing it was a serious health hazard dialled 999 after failing to get through to the NHS 111 helpline.

A fire engine attended, said the man, who asked not to be named, before a ‘special chemical incidents team’ was sent, followed by an ambulance.

He eventually attended Northern General Hospital, where he was checked over and given the all-clear.

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"I squirted in some toilet cleaner that was next to the loo but there was only a small amount left so I picked up another bottle and added some of that without really thinking,” he said.

"When I started to clean the toilet, mixing the two cleaners, the water turned a brownish green colour and started fizzing, and I knew straight away what had happened.

“The limescale remover contained an acid which mixed with the bleach to make chlorine gas, which is what they used in the trenches during the First World War.

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"I flushed the toilet, opened the window and got some fresh air but I was already feeling a bit light-headed and dizzy so I decided to call for help, which is when it all got a bit silly.

"They couldn’t get an ambulance so they sent the fire service first, and when they couldn’t help the specialist chemical incident team came before an ambulance arrived.

"They took my vitals and advised me to go to hospital to get checked in case there was any damage to my lung tissue, which thankfully there wasn’t any sign of.”

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue confirmed it was called to Chantrey Road at 11.35am that day and a crew from Barnsley station had attended before leaving at 12.25pm.