Apartment complex evacuated due to microwaved hot pepper

A HAZMAT team evacuated a Rochester, New York high-rise apartment building yesterday after residents complained of burning sensations in their eyes and once the fire department investigated. They found a 55-gallon sealed drum in one of the apartments. Turns out, it contained donated clothes packed for Africa. The cause of the tennants' breathing difficulties and watery eyes was actually a hot pepper microwaved by one of the building's residents.

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

(WHAM)