- Investigators admit they're at a loss to explain what caused more than a dozen electronics workers to be hospitalized on Friday.
Thirteen employees of the JDS Uniphase company on Rose Orchard Way were sent to the hospital complaining of burning skin and breathing problems.
JDS Uniphase makes very small lasers used in the manufacturing of telecommunications equipment. They build the pump lasers in a clean room, using a couple of very poisonous gasses. And when one of their employees nearly passed out Friday morning it brought rescue crews running.
At 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, 30 people inside JDSU's fabrication room were bought out and given oxygen. Then, one by one, we saw them loaded onto gurneys and taken to the hospital. Four at first, and then four more, and then the number jumped to 13, along with four firefighters who also complained of burning after they entered the building.
A spokesman for the fire department said it was just precautionary.
"It's all precautionary. They didn't even want to go."
Forty-five company employees were evacuated from the building and told not to talk about what happened.
Employee: I'm not supposed to say anything. I know I didn't say anything."
The company's senior vice president said one man had trouble breathing and several reported an unusual smell.
Al Etterman, JDSU senior vice president: "It was originally reported to be the smell of burning rubber but that has been disputed but it's believed to be the smell of onions but we have no evidence at this point whether there were any toxic issues related to the clean room environment."
The county's hazardous materials team pulled up. The fire department suited up a team in vapor tight suits and sent them in with gas detectors.
The company uses phosphine and arsine gasses.
A professor of toxic materials at U.C. Santa Cruz says they are Class One poisons.
Harlan Andy Anderson, Harderson Environmental Management: "I mean phosphine and arsine are two of the most deadly gasses used in the semiconductor industry."
But when the guys in the chemical suits came out and got washed off they looked at their instruments and found nothing.
Alberto Olmos, San Jose fire dept.: "They had no indication of any toxics, any hazardous gasses or any explosive gasses."
The plan now is to have doctors check the blood of the patients who were taken to a number of local hospitals.
The fire department spokesman doesn't believe it's a case of mass hysteria.
Fire Department Spokesman: "There was something, obviously there was something there. The patients are at the hospital, they have shown minor burns on the face so there was something there."
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The San Jose, California fire department and Hazardous Materials crews today responded to a chemical emergency at a JDS Uniphase manufacturing facility. The incident, at 80 Rose Orchard Drive, off North First St., sent between 15 and 17 people, including two firefighters, to the hospital with symptoms and for observation.  

Those exposed to the hazard reported a smell of "burnt rubber", along with symptoms of eye and throat irritation.  

Over 48 others were held in a nearby building while the incident was assessed.  Rose Orchard Way was closed for much of the day while emergency crews responded.  Estimates put the incident at about 10 a.m. (1800 UTC).  

As of 6 p.m. television news reports, authorities still had not determined the source or nature of the chemical, but said neighboring buildings were not in danger.  

JDS Uniphase manufactures fiber optic communications and test equipment, and was formed from a merger of JDS FITEL and Uniphase Corporation in 1999.