13 injured after gas from lithium-ion battery bundle prompts hazmat call at Tampa children’s clinic

TAMPA, Fla. - Three people were hospitalized and ten others were treated for minor injuries following a hazmat event at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Outpatient Clinic Thursday morning.

According to the clinic, the facility had several power issues on Wednesday. Fire officials said they believe the power issues were caused by a lightning strike and bad weather in the area. 

But when employees entered the building on Thursday morning, they smelled an odor coming from the MRI room and called 911.  

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue crews responding to the clinic located at 12220 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Tampa say they discovered a bank of lithium-ion batteries that were swelling.

Firefighters at the scene say the bundle of batteries was ‘off-gassing’ and they called in a specialized hazmat team to go in and determine what was happening.

HCFR says they determined that 30 lithium-ion batteries, approximately 100 pounds each, had swollen and are off-gassing, two of which have ruptured caused the incident. 

HCFR said Thursday afternoon that the entire rack of batteries were removed from the building. Crews are expected to place each of the batteries in a neutralizing agent in a secured drum, which they said a third party will remove. 

Ron Herrin, PIO with HCFR, stated that there was no fire risk and no fire, but there was off-gassing and these batteries contain a bunch of gasses that could be toxic, which prompted them to evacuate the building before the batteries were removed.

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"As far as the danger of lithium ion batteries, you know, any number of gases, the biggest of which we were concerned about today was hydrogen, which we did show hydrogen," Rob Herrin, with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue said. "It's explosive. And we had pretty high explosive levels of hydrogen contained in that small rock."

The clinic said approximately 80 people, including patients and employees, were evacuated from the building as a precaution and screened for any symptoms. Three employees were taken to an area hospital for respiratory concerns, but they have since been released, according to clinic officials. 

Herrin says they had 18 units and 24 hazmat technicians from Hillsborough County Thursday. Pasco County Fire Rescue was also called in to provide backup support.

No firefighters were injured during the hazmat incident. HCFR says there was no threat to the neighboring area.

HCFR crews are ventilating the building with high-powered fans, and will conduct air quality tests before reopening the building to patients and employees.

Johns Hopkins All Children's Outpatient Clinic services and appointments were canceled for Thursday and Friday as firefighters investigate. 

You can find updates about reopening and the investigation at HopkinsAllChildrens.org