Irritant Sickens 25 Students, Staff At Colorado School
Chatfield High School was evacuated Friday afternoon after 25 students and staff reported feeling ill.
LITTLETON, Colo. --
Chatfield High School was evacuated Friday afternoon after 25 students and staff reported feeling ill from an unknown irritant in the air.
The Jefferson County School District told 7NEWS that the students and staff were coughing and choking from the unknown odor, which was reported around 12:30 p.m.
"Both of my friends -- they started getting lightheaded. One of my friend's eyes went to the back of her head. We just got scared and so we took her to the paramedic," said freshman Sabrina Kreifels.
Lynn Setzer, spokeswoman for JeffCo Public Schools, said all of the patients have been treated and released from the hospital.
School doesn't officially begin until Monday but the 500 students who were on campus Friday were ninth-grade students attending freshman orientation. About 150 staffers were at the school.
Several ambulances were called to the school at 7227 S. Simms St. in Littleton to transport the sick as a precaution. All 25 were decontaminated at the scene.
They were hosed down with water and forced to remove their clothes and change into paper gowns and towels before they were transported to nearby hospitals as a precaution.
West Metro Fire sent HAZMAT crews to investigate the irritant, which students say appeared to originate in the kitchen. Firefighters didn't believe the irritant posed a serious risk but they were taking all precautions, West Metro spokeswoman Michelle French told 7NEWS.
Firefighters were not able to find what the odor was, saying it may have dissipated by the time they arrived.
Environmental engineers went inside the kitchen to check things out and place sensors throughout the building to make sure that there's nothing odd going on in the air.
The school said they will run the ventilation system throughout the weekend to get the odor out.
The remaining students who were not affected were sent home for the day at 1:30 p.m. and evening events were canceled. Buses picked up the students who rode buses to school Friday morning. Parents were alerted to the evacuation through the emergency notification system.
The school said it will contact parents at 1 p.m. Sunday to notify them if school will start as scheduled on Monday. All classes are supposed to begin on Monday.
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