Rotting mayonnaise causes road closure and HAZMAT deployment

As Dill Beaty approached his Bent Arrow Road residence on Tuesday evening, he noticed something peculiar — flashing lights and “at least a dozen” emergency vehicles blocking off access to his home. “All of the vehicles were converged right at my driveway,” he said. Beaty was stopped from going to his home and a police officer questioned him about who lived in the neighboring residence. Beaty answered the questions and asked if his wife should evacuate their home next door. The officer knocked on Beaty’s door and when his wife answered, “they told her to grab what you need and get out as quick as you can.”

Destin Fire Control District Fire Chief Kevin Sasser confirmed the road closure, saying that the HAZMAT team responded to the residence after receiving a call from two individuals who had reported having trouble breathing and burning eyes. The pair, who complained of the smell, were inspecting the home. “We didn’t know what we were going to find,” Sasser said of the incident, “so that is why we responded with the HAZMAT team.”



After entering the residence, Sasser said the team had come across a “large barrel” that was left by the previous occupants, and it contained a “five-gallon container” of mayonnaise. “It had started to degrade, and rot,” he said. “And that is what was causing the problems.” While the matter was serious at the time, Sasser can laugh about it knowing it was only mayonnaise.

“We thought it was going to be something more than what it was, “ he said jokingly. “We went through a much larger process to find out it was mayonnaise.” After the closure had forced Beaty out of his home for about three hours, he said the neighbours gathered later “to discuss the incident.” “They were speculating that it was a meth lab,” he said chuckling, after finding out it was mayonnaise. “I was thinking maybe it was a terrorist cell.”