Red hot chilli empties flats

AN entire BUILDING had to be evacuated after someone cooked a HOT CHILLI.

The high-rise block of flats were emptied by emergency services after one of its residents heated a hot pepper in a microwave.

Fire crews and a HAZMAT team were called to the scene after the cooked pepper released the chemical capsaicin into the air and acted like a home-made pepper spray.

A spokesperson for the New York fire service said: “It seems whatever kind of pepper they were using, it’s aerosolised.

“If you’ve ever gotten pepper in your eyes, you know how hard it can be on your system.

“I do not know what kind of pepper it was, but clearly spicy enough to affect the people in the hallway.”