By Laurence Hammack
The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
Copyright 2006 The Roanoke Times
Salem rescue officials were on the scene of last month’s carbon monoxide leak at Roanoke College for 3-and-a-half hours, treating victims with headaches, chest pains and nausea, before they found an elderly man dead in his dorm room.
Walter J. Vierling, a 91-year-old retired pastor from Giles County, was the last of more than 100 victims discovered by rescue workers in the gas-filled building -- and the only one to die.
An account of the rescue operation, based on written reports from the Salem Fire-EMS Department obtained Thursday through a Freedom of Information Act request, raises questions about whether Vierling should have been discovered earlier.
Although firefighters searched the dormitory where Vierling was staying for a church conference, they missed him and two women because their rooms were designed differently, Fire-EMS Chief Pat Counts said. Unlike the rest of the rooms in the dorm, the two that were missed have doors that open to the outside of the building and not to an interior hallway that the firefighters used.
“This was an unfortunate event,” Counts said.
“Things were very hectic, emotions were running high. ... I would like to say we go out and do it perfectly every time, but we don’t. And that’s just life.”
It was unclear Thursday whether Vierling might have lived had he been found within minutes -- rather than hours -- of the first 911 call. Rescue squads were called to the Sections dormitory at 6:40 a.m. July 14 for what turned out to be a carbon monoxide leak from a gas-powered hot water heater that malfunctioned.
This much was clear: Vierling and the two women who were missed in the search remained in their rooms, apparently unable to seek help, as a major rescue operation played out around them. Dozens of emergency vehicles converged on campus, and 113 people were taken to local hospitals with ailments that ranged from serious carbon monoxide poisoning to mild headaches and upset stomachs.
It was only after rescue officials had sent what they believed were the last victims to local hospitals and were taking down a triage center set up on the campus that they realized what they had missed.
At 9:52 a.m., one of two women who were in a first-floor room similar to Vierling’s was able to call 911 for help, Counts said. Officials quickly responded and found one woman alternating in and out of consciousness and a second one who was barely breathing. Counts declined to identify the women.
After the two women were rushed to the hospital, rescue workers discovered Vierling in his room. By then, it was 10:12 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Counts said Vierling and the two women were missed in a room-to-room search that was completed by 8:15 a.m. for at least two reasons: Not only did their rooms not open to the interior hallway used by firefighters, but one of the exterior doors was partially hidden by a wheelchair ramp also.
Following the incident, “there were a lot of questions asked and we interviewed all of the people involved to find out why there was the delay,” Counts said. Although he declined to go into details about the investigation, the fire chief said some rescue personnel “were advised to take more caution when doing searches.”
But at the same time, Counts was reluctant to fault his employees for what he called a “once-in-a-lifetime” event of mass confusion.
“Every incident is different,” he said. “It seems like every time you have an incident, there are conditions that prevent you from doing everything textbook style.”
It didn’t take long for things to get complicated after rescue officials were called to the Sections dorm, which at the time was housing about 140 people from Vierling’s Lutheran church group and an unrelated college prep program.
Not long after the first victims arrived at Lewis-Gale Medical Center, word reached campus that their carbon monoxide exposure was almost eight times the normal level. Hospital officials told the rescue workers to transport to the emergency room everyone who might have been exposed, regardless of whether they were complaining of any symptoms.
That set off a frenzy to set up a triage center and arrange for medical transportation. Some of the 113 patients were sent to Lewis-Gale and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in college vans. Three patients were admitted to Lewis-Gale; the rest were treated and released.
Although some perfectly healthy people ended up being rushed to the hospital as a precaution, Counts said he did not think that was a factor in the failure to find the last three victims.
At Roanoke Memorial, where the less-affected people were treated, patients’ carboxyhemoglobin levels ranged from slightly elevated to 11 percent, according to spokesman Eric Earnhart. Normal levels of carboxyhemoglobin -- the combination of carbon monoxide and hemoglobin found in red blood cells -- are less than 5 percent.
Dr. Susan Venuti, the assistant chief medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Vierling, declined to say Thursday what his exposure level was. While the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, the 91-year-old’s chronic heart and lung disease were contributing factors, Venuti said.
The medical examiner also said it was impossible to determine exactly when Vierling died.
Teresa Gereaux, a spokeswoman for Roanoke College, said the rooms where Vierling and the two women were staying were designed to be handicapped-accessible as part of a remodeling in the mid-1980s. Like Counts, she declined to speculate on whether Vierling might have survived had he been found earlier.
The pastor’s daughter, Corbin Vierling of Pembroke, declined to comment.