When broccoli goes bad: Fumes lead to emergency call

Evergreen man Loren Beebe has long harbored disdain for broccoli, so much so that his wife agrees not to cook it in their Scenic Drive home.

His case against the vegetable might be stronger now that it is being blamed for noxious fumes that afflicted his wife and daughter-in-law Wednesday night.

Loren and Diane Beebe were hosting a birthday celebration for their 7-year-old grandson Mason when Diane decided to fetch a cake and other supplies from a camper at about 6 p.m.

She said she opened the refrigerator — with plans to retrieve and cook brussels sprouts that were stored with the broccoli — and was soon overcome by an ammonia-like odor that forced her to flee the camper.

The refrigerator had malfunctioned. Rather than keeping the broccoli cool, it had become hot, she said.

“When it first happened I could not breathe at all,” Diane said. “It was like being suffocated  ... my eyes were burning, my throat was burning, my bones were burning. And not just a little bit.”

As Diane gasped for air, her daughter-in-law Janelle Beebe decided she would attempt to do what her mother-in-law could not — bring the cake out of the camper.

Janelle’s efforts were thwarted, she said, when a bronchial cough caused her to ingest the fumes.

“I could not breathe,” Janelle said. “I couldn’t even catch my breath when I got out of the trailer.”

Evergreen Fire and Rescue personnel arrived at the home on Scenic Drive after Janelle’s husband, Sean Beebe, saw his wife and mother gasping and called 911.

Fire Marshal Ben Covington said he was unable to determine where the fumes were coming from. Firefighters used a gas detector to search for the source. It beeped each time it was waved near the refrigerator, but also became active when held close to the broccoli.

“There was quite a fume coming from the broccoli,” Covington said, adding that the odor dissipated soon after the vegetable was removed from the camper.

Janelle, who has asthma and is recovering from bronchitis, said she passed out at one point. Paramedics began giving her oxygen as Diane overcame a burning sensation in her nose.

The birthday party became a nightmare, Janelle said, but friendly Evergreen firefighters helped salvage the celebration. Mason was given a short ride in the fire engine and quickly reported that “this is the best birthday ever,” Loren said.

As for the broccoli, it was thrown in the garbage. Though emergency responders and the Beebes can’t be certain it was the vegetable that caused the fumes, there is some evidence to support the family’s theory.

A study by the Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory  published in the Journal of Horticultural Science in 1994 noted that depriving broccoli of oxygen can lead to the emission of methanethiol. The colorless, flammable gas can be toxic in high concentrations and has a strong and repulsive smell.

Similar findings were published in a 1992 edition of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry through a study titled “Volatile compounds produced by broccoli under anaerobic conditions.”

The ordeal has changed Janelle’s perception of broccoli, though her mother-in-law Diane said she will continue eating it.

“I actually like broccoli a lot, but I will never eat it again,” Janelle said.