Global Security Newswire

An explosion and small fire inside a vending machine in a Texas hospital transformed the appliance’s freon coolant into phosgene, Reuters reported today (see GSN, June 22).

Used as a choking agent, phosgene was responsible for most of the chemical warfare deaths during World War I (Centers for Disease Control, Facts About Phosgene).

A food service employee was working on the soda machine in the Park Place Medical Center in Port Arthur, Texas, when the explosion occurred, according to local Fire Marshal Mark Mulliner.

“When freon gas from the cooling system came into contact with the heat from the fire, it changed composition to a phosgene gas,” Mulliner said.

“We were fortunate one of our officers who was first on the scene had some familiarity with phosgene and quickly evacuated the area,” said Mulliner, who added that the weaponization of the vending machine appeared to be a “freak accident.”

“I’ve been here 27 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 25).