WEST NEWBURY - The saga of the flawed Red Cross blood drive here continues, resulting in claims that a blood technician was fired, allegations of scapegoating, and possibly a new blood drive - but not with the American Red Cross.

Jack Connolly, a West Newbury volunteer firefighter, had helped his daughter, Sara, a police dispatcher, set up a blood driveon Friday at the town's fire station. They said it was a disaster - for about three hours, five American Red Cross blood technicians, complaining of fumes and heat, refused to draw blood from the arms of willing donors. And shortly after the five workers began drawing blood in the late afternoon, four of them stopped for a lunch break.

Dozens of donors were turned away, and many were angered, vowing never to give blood again. Jack Connolly said one woman who had given a pint of blood every eight weeks for decades "said she will never give another drop of blood" to the American Red Cross. Sara Connolly vowed never to organize another blood drive for the Red Cross.

Jack Connolly said he spoke with the New England region chief executive officer of Red Cross blood services, Joanne Newton, about the incident. He said she told him they fired a blood technician over the problems caused and offered many apologies.

"I've got to give her credit for not circling the wagons and trying to make this thing just go away," Connolly said. "She's been very good, and I think they've been very responsible about how they handled it after the fact."

But Dannielle Minton, one of the workers there that day, told a different story. She said the conditions at the firehouse were "unsafe," and that the workers were sickened by the heat and fumes from a cleaning solution used on the floors as well at from several firetrucks and other vehicles in the immediate area.

She said she is being offered up as a "scapegoat" by Red Cross officials. She said her last day on the job - after two years with the Red Cross - had already been scheduled for early this week. But she was told not to report to her last day and was sent home with pay.

Minton said the chief executive of the Red Cross said it was because of scheduling problems, but Minton said she was told by two of her immediate supervisors she was being sent home "because of Friday." She said she thinks officials will use her one-day suspension as a sign they are trying to right the situation.

"They don't care if we don't feel well," Minton said. "They don't care if we are sick. All they care about is the money they are going to get from the blood. I'm the one they used as a scapegoat. It was my last day, so they sent me home. They sent me home for the day with pay just so they could turn around and say they did something."

Newton did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Donna Morrissey, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said that the Red Cross is "taking this matter very seriously" and that "we were horrified to hear the reports." She said officials have launched an internal investigation into the matter to "ensure what happened on Friday does not happen again."

Morrissey said the only comment she could make about a person getting fired is that "we are taking swift and appropriate action to ensure that this doesn't happen again."

"It was horrible. It just shouldn't have happened," she said, adding that the only way they can complete their mission is "with the help of generous donors, sponsors and volunteers. We are simply not going to accept the circumstances that happened on Friday."

"We are sorry," she said.

But Minton said conditions at the fire station were "unsafe" for the technicians, that it was far too hot and fumes inside the fire station's garage were making them sick. She said the firefighters had just finished cleaning the floor with cleaning solution and that there were two fire trucks, a pickup truck and a boat in the area where they were working.

Minton said she and the other employees refused to give their side of the story on Friday because they were ordered not to say anything to a Daily News reporter at the scene or they would get fired.

"The staff was dizzy and nauseous," she said. "We were outside because it wasn't safe to be inside. We had donors leave because they said they were too hot."

"I don't want people from other communities to think the Red Cross doesn't do their job, that we're lazy. It just isn't true," Minton added. "If we didn't want to work, we would've just gone home."

Minton said they had to option to go home but waited for a new blood-drawing station to get set up. Firefighters and other volunteers set up a new donor station in an air-conditioned room upstairs.

Linda DeLuties, an American Red Cross union steward, said she was called by the employees on Friday and heard their complaints of headaches, dizziness and nausea.

"I immediately told them to leave the premises and seek medical attention for a possible chemical exposure," DeLuties wrote in a letter to the Daily News. "They could have left, but they choose to stay and went outside to clear their heads and try to get some fresh air."

She said that the technicians would have been justified to leave the blood drive under regulations set up by the Red Cross safety manual, contract terms, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.

"Instead they chose to stay, and another site was set up in the building upstairs, where they went back to work even though they still were not feeling well," she continued.

Once the five technicians did start to work, Minton said they were able to get 39 pints of blood. Fifty-four people were signed up that day to give blood.

Meanwhile, officials from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, after reading a Daily News article, called the Connollys to offer another blood drive. That hospital operates its own blood bank and said they could drive a mobile blood station to the West Newbury fire station.

"It is something we are considering," Connolly said.

And Anna Jaques sent an open letter to donors who were turned away in West Newbury to give blood in Newburyport.

Catherine Carnache, the Anna Jaques blood bank supervisor, said those who want to give blood can call the blood donor room for an appointment. All of the blood collected at the hospital stays there for its patients.