By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Four Pelham police officers and a K-9 officer were transported for medical treatment after inhaling chemical fumes at an active methamphetamine lab in a local hotel on Sept. 9.

At about 6 p.m., officers responded to a juvenile pickup call at the Oak Mountain Lodge off U.S. 31 in Pelham. When officers arrived, they made contact with four occupants in the hotel room, and smelled fumes coming from the room’s bathroom.

The officers then discovered a suspected active meth lab in the bathroom, took the four occupants into custody and evacuated the nearby rooms.

Pelham and Alabaster hazardous materials teams responded to the scene and decontaminated the area and the four suspects who were in the hotel room.

After inhaling the fumes, three officers and the K-9 fell ill at about 6:30 p.m. A fourth officer fell ill about an hour and a half later, according to the Pelham Police Department.

The four officers were transported to Brookwood Medical Center for treatment, and were all released by 10:30 p.m. The K-9 was held overnight for observation at a local veterinary clinic.

The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force responded to the scene and removed the suspected meth lab after the scene was decontaminated, and criminal charges are pending against the four suspects.

“The Pelham Police Department would like to thank the Hoover Police Department, the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force, the Pelham Fire Department and the Alabaster Fire Department for their assistance during this incident,” read a Pelham Police Department press release.