Five-alarm chili — literally

You gotta love it. You just gotta:

A Thai restaurant cooking up a big pot of bird’s eye chili brought road closures and evacuations in the Soho area of London after passers-by complained that a noxious chemical was burning their throats and the London Fire Brigade sent a chemical response team, a police spokesman said. Firefighters closed off roads, sealed buildings and donned special breathing masks to ferret out the source of the acrid smell, The Times of London reported. Smashing down the door of the suspected source — the restaurant — they emerged carrying a pot containing about nine pounds of bird’s eye chilies that had been left roasting. The restaurant owner said it was for a batch of nam prik pao, a Thai chili paste. There were no arrests. “As far as I’m aware, it’s not a criminal offense to cook very strong chili,” the police spokesman said.