Saturday, March 11, 2000
Sewer gas odor makes Reading students sick
School evacuated; 26 taken to hospital
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
READING — More than two dozen Reading Junior-Senior High School students were taken to the hospital Friday after breathing sewer gas released accidentally by a custodian trying to unclog a sink.
None of the injuries was serious, and the school, which was evacuated, reopened several hours later.
A custodian using a Shop-Vac to open a sink drain in a janitor's closet near the cafeteria unintentionally let a burst of sewer gas escape as the pipes cleared.
“It smelled like rotten eggs,” said Savannah Wilson, 16, a ninth-grader at the Columbia Avenue school.
Reading Fire Chief Kevin Kaiser said 26 students were taken to Children's Hospital Medical Center by 15 life squads summoned to the school about 11:30 a.m. Most of those who became ill were junior-high students who were eating in the cafeteria when the gas was released. High-school students were in classes, and although the odor permeated all of the building to some degree, it was strongest near the lunchroom.
“It was really an irritating odor and it was in close proximity to the cafeteria, where kids were eating lunch,” Chief Kaiser said. “It made some feel nauseous or get sick and that escalated to more students feeling ill. We had some asthmatics where we had to administer oxygen, and one kid twisted an ankle.”
School officials said the 26 were released from the hospital by midafternoonfollowing treatment. Combined enrollment at the school is 635.
Chief Kaiser said firefighters cleared the smell from the building by opening windows. “We really did not have to use (ventilation) fans. It was a breezy day and we just opened the windows to let fresh air into the building and the odor escape into the atmosphere,” Chief Kaiser said. “It was just a burst (of odor) — not a constant leak.”
In keeping with a contin gency disaster plan, students walked to nearby Hilltop Elementary School.
Some were picked up by parents who signed them out of classes for the day, while others returned to the school in midafternoon, where they were treated to pizza before the 2:37 p.m. dismissal, school officials said.
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