The Daily Caller – by Eric Owens
On Monday, when Jefferson County Open School in suburban Denver was evacuated and a hazmat team showed up because of a contamination scare, The Daily Caller was worried.
Turns out, “approximately six” habanero peppers caused the entire kerfuffle, reports Denver ABC affiliate KMGH.
The half dozen habanero peppers were scattered in shreds among the wood chips on the preK-12 school’s playground.
The pell-mell pepper pandemonium went down at about 1 p.m. Children playing on the playground began reporting mysterious skin reactions. Seven students ended up in the hospital. Another 23 students and an adult aide were reportedly decontaminated on school grounds.
The decontamination process involved firefighters rinsing and showering children in a makeshift tent on school grounds, notes Denver FOX affiliate KDVR.
The school was closed on Tuesday while authorities investigated the cause of the irritation. School officials first thought maybe it was some fertilizer on the soccer field. However, firefighters discounted that idea.
Members of a local environmental services team discovered the pepper parts amid the wood chips. In a statement obtained by The Denver Post, local government officials said they had no idea how the fiery chilis got there.
School district officials say they are thoroughly cleaning the school’s playground equipment to remove any remaining habanero oil remnants. Also, a large section of wood chips is getting replaced.
School will be back in session on Wednesday.
Habanero peppers are rated from 100,000 to 350,000 on the Scoville Heat Scale, a gauge of the “hotness” of anything related to chili peppers. By comparison, Satan’s Blood – from Sauce Crafters Inc. – rates 800,000. Police-grade pepper spray rates 5,300,000. A pimento rates 500.
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What’s next …. shadows? FFS it’s peppers , Amerikans are now scared of fkn peppers. Oh me Oh my the sky is falling the sky is falling when is enough enough and you guys start growing a set, and a brain for that matter seems to me common sense has been replaced with common core , too bad you were once a great nation …. not anymore sad day indeed.
“Habanero peppers are rated from 100,000 to 350,000 on the Scoville Heat Scale, a gauge of the “hotness” of anything related to chili peppers. By comparison, Satan’s Blood – from Sauce Crafters Inc. – rates 800,000. Police-grade pepper spray rates 5,300,000. A pimento rates 500.”
I have a friend who puts hot sauce/salsa on virtually EVERYTHING, including ice cream, of all things. It’s crazy.
He was so over-the-top with it, I decided to find out just how crazy he actually is, so I went to a hot sauce specialty store, and bought a bottle of Mad Dog 357. This cr@p is so hot there’s actually a liability disclaimer on the bottle that states that if you hurt yourself with it, neither you nor your relatives can sue the company, if you can believe that.
Anyway, we both were working a Christian retreat that we do twice a year, and at one of the lunches, I had someone call him into the kitchen on a bogus pretext, went over to his bowl of hamburger soup, and dumped a GENEROUS dollop into it. You’re only supposed to use a few drops in an entire pot of chili (according to the label), so this was intentional overkill. I expected him to take a single spoonful, and let it go at that.
Bad idea. After the first taste, he knew something was up (no way you could NOT know). Someone informed him that I was the culprit, and then he got REALLY stupid. His pride overcame his common sense, and the next thing I know, he sets the empty bowl in front of me. Needless to say, he was sick as a dog the rest of the day. He told me it was so hot his throat nearly closed all the way up after the second spoonful. Had it coming out both ends after that. I really felt bad about it, but I honestly NEVER expected him to go 5150 on me.
Lesson learned? NEVER test the limits of crazy with certain people.
btw, he asked me for the bottle at the end of the weekend. I gave it to him, he more than earned it.