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A fog machine went haywire at a Teen Choice Awards pre-party in Hollywood last night, sending some teens to the hospital and causing a panic.
The machine spit out "theatrical" fog so thick that the teenaged partiers at the Avalon couldn't even see beyond their own faces, witnesses told NBC Los Angeles. Some inside the Avalon reported respiratory injuries from inhaling too much of the vapor. Others said they were burned by vapor dripping on them. The malfunction caused a panic.
Fire officials responded to the scene and shut down the party. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said that most of the 22 victims reporting injuries ended up feeling better once they got outside and got some fresh air. But six victims were taken to the hospital for treatment.
The incident was reported around 6 pm last night. Vine Street between Franklin Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard was shut down while the fire department assessed the crowd.
A boy band that was supposed to play Midnight Red described the event on their twitter account:
#Facts from tonight. Club smoke canisters malfunction. Small panic. Show cancelled by Fire team, not MNR for safety which best for all. Love
— Midnight RED (@ItsMidnightRed) July 22, 2012
We are fine. Smoke canisters went off. People panicked and fire marshall shut down show. Sorry to all that we couldn't perform.
— Midnight RED (@ItsMidnightRed) July 22, 2012
The boy band had apparently deleted an earlier tweet calling the incident a "riot," which annoyed the LAFD:
.@ItsMidnightRed deleting a Tweet is *not* coming clean :( We've been straight up with you + #RedHeads. Say the word: There was no riot.
— #LAFD Talk (@LAFDtalk) July 22, 2012