Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Antifreeze causes fumes at high school
BY CHRISTINE WOLFF and WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP — A shower of pink antifreeze pouring Tuesdayfrom a broken pipe into a Turpin High School classroom caused a schoolwide evacuation and some discomfort to students who breathed the fumes.
Thirty-six students were examined and released from Mercy Hospital Anderson for complaints of mild headaches, nausea and dizziness. Most of the students did not require treatment because their symptoms began easing as soon as they were in fresh air, said Dr. Joe Renusch, the emergency room physician.
Three students suffering the worst aftereffects were taken by ambulance to the hospital. The rest of the students rode to the hospital in Forest Hills' school buses with paramedics aboard, Assistant Anderson Township Fire Chief Tom Reimar said.
Turpin's 1,500 students were evacuated for about 45 minutes. Mercer Elementary School, which shares Turpin's Bartels Road campus, did not evacuate.
The leak occurred about 10 a.m. in a basement science classroom with 23 eighth-graders inside. Teacher Cherie Norman said she suspected an air-conditioning leak when the pink liquid began dripping from the ceiling.
“Then it began raining pink. It was just a line of liquid coming from the ceiling where the pipe was,” Ms. Norman said.
Ms. Norman noted, “We were studying oceans.”
The antifreeze — ethyl glycol — keeps pipes from freezing during the winter and must be removed before the air-conditioning system can be used.
“Our maintenance workers were flushing out the antifreeze ... when the pipe burst,” said Principal Larry Borcherding.
Turpin staff notified parents of students taken to the hospital, reaching all but three, Mr. Borcherding said. The school's emergency plan worked well, he said, with the building being emptied in 21/2 minutes.
It was scary to get the phone call at work telling her to meet her son at the hospital, said Cynthia Pandorf, mother of Turpin student Cass Pandorf, 14. The incident triggered her son's asthma, but he had recovered and was ready to leave the hospital with his mother about noon.
“In this day and age, at a high school, you don't know what to think. The things that went through my head ...,” Ms. Pandorf said.
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