The Pierce County Hazmat Incident Team, including firefighters trained for hazmat response from East Pierce Fire and Rescue, Graham Fire and Rescue, Gig Harbor Fire, Central Pierce Fire and Rescue, and West Pierce Fire and Rescue, converged on a Sumner business just before noon Tuesday to investigate potentially dangerous fumes that sent one worker to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

An employee of Northwest Health Care Linen, located at 3107 142nd Avenue East, became ill after coming into contact with linens he had collected from a local hospital. There were no other employees in the building at the time and no one else was affected. As a precaution, businesses in the immediate area were evacuated while firefighters investigated.

According to Assistant Chief Jim Jaques, the hazmat team located several mop heads coated with cleaning chemicals that may have been the culprit. The material was sent to the Department of Ecology for further investigation.