“Some families at Canyon View Middle School said they haven’t yet decided if they will send their student back to school Wednesday when in-person classes resume.
The school went virtual for two days following multiple reported carbon monoxide exposures on campus last week. Officials said all of the school’s carbon monoxide detectors will be tested while students are at home…It looks great on paper, there’s nothing there, everything’s testing 0, but three days, people have tested for CO poisoning…”
Canyon View Middle School will hold remote learning this week while the building is tested for carbon monoxide, days after it was evacuated due to suspected exposure.
“More than one hundred kids and teachers were evacuated from Prairie Heights Elementary School Friday because of heightened levels of Carbon Monoxide found in the building…”
“The affected students and adult had been in a classroom closest to an outside construction site on the school property. While heavy machinery was running outside, air conditioning was running inside the building, pulling outside air in…It’s likely that the carbon monoxide came from the operation of the heavy equipment.”
“One was laying on the floor pretty much unconscious at that point, and then one more, kind of in the seats slumped over…Not really talking or moving.”
Incident #2 this month at Olton ISD – detail in video attached to this news story.
“After a thorough inspection of all possible sources and/or locations for carbon monoxide. it was found that the gas powered dryer in the gym facility was leaking carbon monoxide back into the gym facility. We will be doing the following in response to our findings. First, we will be replacing the gas-powered dryer with an electric dryer. Second, out of an abundance of caution, we will be testing our current carbon monoxide detectors to ensure that they are functioning properly…”
“We will continue to have experts conduct air quality and ventilation monitoring to ensure that the kitchen and all District facilities are safe. Additionally, we have begun installing Carbon Monoxide and/or Carbon Dioxide detectors throughout the District. Finally, in order to exercise the utmost care, some of the older heating equipment in the district will be removed and possibly replaced.”
Seven Bowling Green Junior High students and an employee have become ill after elevated levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the school’s kitchen.
The following communication was sent to families of students at Bowling Green Junior High.
“Earlier today, an employee in the cafeteria became ill, which was determined to be caused by elevated levels of CO2 in the kitchen. The entire school was checked by the Bowling Green Fire Department, and determined concerns were isolated to the kitchen and cafeteria area. Upon further investigation across the school, seven BGJHS students indicated they were experiencing symptoms, and were also evaluated by medical staff…”
OLEAN, NY — Washington West Elementary School was evacuated Wednesday after firefighters found two construction workers in “obvious distress with levels of carbon monoxide present in their blood,” according to a press release from the City of Olean Fire Department.
Firefighters responding to the scene determined that six people were suffering from carbon monoxide. Two were taken to Olean General Hospital; four were treated at the scene.
According to the press release, the incident was caused by propane powered construction equipment that was operated in an area with minimal ventilation.
“Ashley Wilson couldn’t shake the worry of her son getting carbon monoxide poisoning at school.
It may not be the first concern that comes to mind when a parent thinks about their child at school, but for Wilson, the worry was warranted.
In February 2020, her family suffered carbon monoxide poisoning after the boiler in their former apartment was leaking. There was no detector installed to indicate the presence of the colorless, odorless, potentially deadly, gas.
She would try to reassure herself that the schools were safe but decided she needed to reach out after she heard news about 17 people being sent to the hospital after carbon monoxide levels reached dangerously high levels in a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dorm.
To Wilson’s surprise, the Appleton Area School District told her there aren’t detectors in any of the school buildings.
State law doesn’t require them in schools, but it does require them on every level of Wisconsin homes. According to the state Department of Health Services, carbon monoxide poisoning sends about 500 Wisconsinites to the emergency room each year…”
“In their own timeline of events, Richmond Public Schools said those vital alarm panels never called the Richmond Alarm Company because 8-0-4 was not recently added after Verizon changed operations requiring local calls to include the area code.”
“The Duxbury Fire Department was called to Alden Elementary School, at 75 Alden Street, for a possible gas leak. The Alden School custodial staff made the call after noticing an odor in the gym…elevated Carbon Monoxide levels were found in a mechanical room in the gymnasium due to a malfunction with the HVAC system…”
“House Bill 1823 requires public schools, child day programs and certain other programs to have carbon monoxide detectors required in each building that was built before 2015.”
This legislation is thanks in large part to the efforts of Nikki Zellner and her extensive research into CO incidents in daycares and K-12 schools (check it out at www.carbonmonoxideinschools.org)
This. Is. Awesome. Truly remarkable all that Nikki Zellner has accomplished in getting CO detection requirements in place to protect kids in her home state of Virginia…all in the short span of one year.
“The other reason to applaud the new legislation is that its smooth passage through the General Assembly is an encouraging story that shows what can happen when our system works the way it’s supposed to. People became aware of a problem and spoke out. Responsible local journalists helped spread the word. And politicians responded with a sensible measure to make schools and day cares safer and avoid preventable illness and death.”
“When you book your first post-COVID-19 vacation rental, do you know if the hotel you book or home you rent requires CO alarms? The Fire Protection Research Foundation conducted a literature review to summarize existing requirements for installation of CO detection devices and consolidated the available and pertinent non-fire CO incident data.”
Plympton, MA – “When the carbon monoxide detectors went off in Jackson Randall’s house last month, the 7-year-old knew exactly what to do.
“I went to my meeting place and I got out of the house,” Jackson said.
Jackson learned about fire safety plans at Dennett Elementary, then had his family implement their own escape plan.”
“Building owners should be especially concerned about brick chimneys…Inspect the chimneys for loose bricks. If the chimney provides ventilation for a fireplace or appliances such as furnaces or water heaters, make sure it still vents…also encourage building owners to ensure they have a working carbon monoxide detector.”
We are excited to be kicking off our annual CO awareness effort in local elementary schools as part of Fire Prevention Week! This year will include hands-on activities focused on the lifesaving value of CO alarms at both Mint Valley Elementary and Robert Gray Elementary…followed by a free CO alarm distribution event at the Longview Fire Department Open House on Saturday, October 12, 2019. A big thank you to the principals and teachers at these schools for their participation…and to our local business sponsors (who will be recognized here on our website as well as our Facebook page) who make this project possible.
More on the effort to get CO detection required in Massachusetts schools. According to this article, “Only Connecticut, California, Maryland, South Carolina, and Utah require CO detection in their schools.” Carbon monoxide is a universal danger and children are at increased risk of its toxic effects, yet efforts to require CO detection in schools are happening only at the state level.
Girard, IL – “At least 150 people were treated at hospitals for the incident, which occurred the morning of Sept. 15, 2014. After a handful of students came forward with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning around 9 a.m., school officials made the call to evacuate. The lawsuits, which names the school district, as well as several contractors and architects, says the leak originated at two natural gas boilers, which the school utilized to generate its hot water. An employee with Springfield-based HVAC company Burgess & Son was performing maintenance work on the boilers the morning of leak, and according to the lawsuit, failed to repair a “break or separation of a vent pipe connection in the vent system for the aforesaid hot water heaters.”
“March 17, 2014, started off just like any other day: I dropped off my five-year-old son Ryan at the Douglas Municipal Center, adjacent to the Douglas Elementary School. He hurried inside the municipal center, where kindergarten is held, along with 76 other kindergartners and their teachers. The weather was cold, so the building’s heating system was on. No one realized that somewhere inside the building a furnace was leaking a deadly gas and everybody inside was in danger.”
“At about 8:45 a.m., North Mac Intermediate and Middle Schools were evacuated, after approximately 150 students and faculty were exhibiting symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning — nearly 60 people have been transported to local hospitals.”
“…complaints allege that when a 2003 building addition to the school was designed and constructed, the venting system for the hot water heaters in the mechanical room was defective, causing a modification to be made to the vents that extended the vent pipe high above the roof and required guy wires. According to documents produced by the school district under the Freedom of Information Act, one of those guy wires to the vent pipe was found after the accident to be broken, according to a press release from the Nolan Law Group.
A district employee and the plumbing/heating contractor had noticed a break in the vent pipe inside the building the week prior to Sept. 15, 2014, and performed a temporary repair that did not hold…”
“An epidemiologic and clinical investigation of 184 persons exposed to toxic levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in a public high school has been carried out. Exposure to 500 ppm of CO for periods up to 150 minutes resulted in carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels as high as 30% and symptomatic illness in 87% of persons exposed before the possibility of mass CO poisoning was recognized.”
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