Tuesday, March 14, 2000
Fumes force evacuation of second school
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP — Twenty-one elementary school students and three staff members from Elizabethtown Elementary School were taken to hospitals Monday after they complained of fumes at the school that caused dizziness and nausea.
Daniel Lawler, assistant superintendent of the Southwest Local School District, and Whitewater Township Fire Chief Bill Darby said no one suffered serious harm.
Chief Darby said the fumes might have come from a classroom that had been cleaned recently with a bleach product.
“It was definitely a bad odor and present when we arrived,” Chief Darby said.
The fire department checked for methane and natural gas, carbon monoxide, chlorine, sewer gases and “all came up negative,” the chief said. They also checked the oxygen levels, which were normal.
About 150 students at the school, which holds grades four through six, were evacuated to Elizabethtown United Methodist Church about a block away. The school was closed for the day, and students were kept at the church until parents picked them up.
Students began complaining of fumes in the building about 9:30 a.m., Mr. Lawler said. Teachers notified the maintenance staff, who checked it out but couldn't determine what it was, so the school was evacuated.
As they left, some students complained of dizziness, nausea and watery eyes, although no one appeared to be seriously ill, Mr. Lawler said.
Life squads from Miami Township, Forest Park, Harrison, Ross Township, Dearborn County, Aurora, Colerain Township and Springfield Township responded to the school, located in the tiny neighbor hood of Elizabethtown in the township.
Cody Lilly, 11, said he was sitting in class with about 20 other students when he smelled the fumes.
“It smelled like gasoline and kerosene fumes,” Cody said. “I wasn't really scared, but it didn't smell good.”
His father, Dennis Lilly, who lives right down the street, was a bit nervous when he noticed life squads coming down the street toward the school.
“I didn't know what was going on,” said Mr. Lilly as he and his son left the church. “Right now I'm happy, relieved.”
In addition to students, a secretary, teacher and cafeteria cook were taken to hospitals, including Dearborn County, Children's, Franciscan Mount Airy Hospital and Franciscan Western Hills.
Chief Darby said firefighters spent much of the afternoon ventilating the building, which is one story and holds six classrooms in addition to the cafeteria and offices.
Mr. Lawler said school should resume this morning.
It was the second such scare in less than a week at a Tristate school. On Friday, about two dozen students at Reading Junior-Senior High School were taken to Children's Hospital Medical Center after inhaling sewer gas. The gas was released accidentally by a custodian trying to unclog a sink near the cafeteria, fire officials said.
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