By Vanessa Thomas
Buffalo News (New York)
Copyright 2006 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved
Seventy-nine pupils and nine adults were treated for carbon monoxide illnesses at a South Buffalo school Monday morning after a device on the school’s boiler malfunctioned and sent carbon monoxide fumes seeping into hallways.
Those sickened were among 411 pupils evacuated from Notre Dame Academy, 1125 Abbott Road, and sent across the street to St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church.
One boy, about 7, was taken by ambulance to Women and Children’s Hospital for treatment.
“The boy showed serious signs of prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide,” said Rural/Metro Medical Services spokesman Jay Smith. “He had been vomiting and showed signs of nausea and shortness of breath.”
The boy was released from the hospital several hours later.
Fourth-grader Brandi Dupere, 9, was among the dozens of pupils treated by paramedics in the church’s vestibule.
“My stomach hurts. My head is hot. My eyes are burning. And I’m nervous,” Dupere said as her friend, Grace Mrgich, 9, hugged her and rubbed her right arm.
Several questions were raised about why there was an hour delay in notifying the Fire Department about the carbon monoxide fumes. The ordeal began at about 8:15 a.m., when a school official called National Fuel, reporting the smell of natural gas, but rescue workers were not notified until 9:15.
Some parents also criticized the notification procedure -- a telephone call from a school administrator -- saying school officials failed to inform them that their children were ill and gave them vague information.
Hundreds of parents and guardians, some of them frantic, rushed to the church to gather their children and console them, as the pupils received treatment.
Kelly Kennelly was among the parents inside the church, comforting her three children -- Patrick, 10, Tara, 9, and Sean, 7.
“I’m was totally terrified,” said Kennelly, 36. “I got a phone call at home from a teacher saying the kids were OK, but there was a gas leak, so I rushed over here.”
“My head hurts a little,” said her daughter, Tara. “It smelled really bad in the school.”
Paramedics administered oxygen, took blood pressure readings and used meters to test carbon monoxide levels in the blood of those sickened. Fire officials said the children suffered various symptoms, including headaches, nausea, respiratory problems and irritated eyes.
Kevin Keenan, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, said the source of the problem was a barometric damper, an energy-saving device on the boiler inside the school’s basement, which became stuck in the open position and caused carbon monoxide to escape from the boiler.
Contractors fixed the problem Monday afternoon, and the building was ventilated by opening windows and using fans.
Notre Dame Academy is scheduled to reopen today. The school replaced three closed Catholic schools when it opened in September in the building formerly occupied by St. Martin of Tours School.
Keenan said the National Fuel serviceman first to arrive said it was not an emergency situation but made a recommendation that the school be evacuated, which was done immediately.
“They said it was not an emergency situation,” Keenan said. “That’s why the Fire Department wasn’t called immediately.”
Deputy Fire Commissioner Patrick T. Lewis said, “I wish they would have called the Fire Department sooner.”
National Fuel Operations Supervisor Philip Stokes said the carbon monoxide readings inside the school’s boiler room in the basement were 1,200 parts per million; 1,000 parts per million in the hallway near the boiler room; and 100 in the main hallway. Fire officials described those levels as enough to cause serious symptoms.
There was no carbon monoxide detected in the one or two classrooms tested, Stokes said.
“I think the reasonable precautions were taken, and the kid’s safety was put first,” said Battalion Fire Chief Scott Barry. “It was an unfortunate incident, but I think it turned out OK.”
The boy who was hospitalized had 14 parts per million of carbon monoxide in his blood, while some of the ill adults had readings as high as 17, said Smith, the Rural/Metro spokesman, who described that as “significant enough to evaluate further.”
Jeffrey Bartels and his wife, Tami, said they were angry that the school official who called their home instructed them to pick up their two daughters but failed to inform them their 8-year-old daughter, Riley, was on oxygen.
“I’m extremely upset,” said Jeffrey Bartels, his arms flailing in the church’s parking lot. “They called, but they never mentioned that my daughter was hurt . . . " “I work up the street, and I could have been here in a minute,” he said. “I’m upset because she was here alone when we could have been here a lot earlier.”
Keenan said he believes school officials followed the appropriate procedures to evacuate the school and notify parents.
“When the phone calls were made, students were being evacuated,” said Keenan. “The students were not being treated at the school, so the teachers would not have had that information at that point.
“The situation was changing from minute to minute,” he added. “The students were fine when they were evacuated, but they didn’t start demonstrating carbon monoxide [symptoms] until they arrived at the church.”