3:51pm Thursday 4th July 2002
Construction workers received a strange suprise when they drilled into concrete steps in Croydon a fortnight ago.
As the power tool broke through the cement just after 11.15am a strange green substance oozed out of the ground igniting on contact with the air, creating a noxious gas.
More than 550 workers were evacuated from Sunley House in Bedford Park, off Wellesley Road, last Thursday (April 26th) when fire fighters found the strange substance in the foundations of the building.
The workman who had drilled the original hole was treated for minor hand injuries after some of the liquid splashed up onto his hands.
The construction workers were eventually allowed back into their offices at 1.40pm once firefighters had made the area safe.
Croydon fire fighter Nigel Excell said: "It was like something out of the X-Files.
Construction workers had been doing some work on Sunley House on Wellesley Road when this green stuff came up from the surface.
The friction with the drill caused the liquid to ignite and it created a noxious gas.
"None of us knew what it was so we treated it as a chemical incident and got everyone out of the building as fast as possible."
A scientific investigator from the London Fire Brigade later established that the substance was a flammable preservative which had been used on the building's foundations 30 years ago.
A small pool of it had been contained in an airtight pocket beneath the stairs.
A spokesman from the London Fire Service said: "From what we can ascertain the substance had not dissolved into the building.
"The liquid had remained in an airtight pocket of the stairs in a pool which spurted up and ignited on contact with the drill."
May, 2001
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk