By Cimaron Neugebauer
The Salt Lake Tribune
HEBER, Utah — Emergency responders took eight children to a nearby hospital as a precaution Tuesday after an alarm for carbon monoxide went off in their Heber elementary school.
When fire crews arrived at Heber Valley Elementary, 730 S. 600 West, at about 10:45 a.m., they discovered that high levels of carbon monoxide set off the alarm, said Wasatch County Health Department spokesman Dallin Koecher.
Firefighters took tests for CO levels around the building and noted high levels in some spots, “opened some windows and then left,” Koecher said.
Later that afternoon, children reported feeling dizzy and nauseous and other symptoms of possible CO poisoning. At 2 p.m., fire crews returned to check all the students, and eight students who had poisoning symptoms and CO concentration levels above of 10 parts per million were taken to the hospital as a precaution, Koecher said. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, sustained CO concentrations above 150 to 200 ppm may cause unconsciousness and or death.
“At no point was there any serious danger,” Koecher said, adding that no children were evacuated from the school because the CO was coming from outside.
On their second visit to the school, fire crews discovered the CO was being generated by construction crews using machinery just outside the doors on the west side of the school.
School will be in session Wednesday, Koecher said.
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