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Weber High evacuated, classes canceled after students become ill

Posted at 12:21 PM, Sep 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-17 19:39:55-04

PLEASANT VIEW, Utah -- Classes will resume at Weber High School Tuesday after the building was evacuated and dozens were treated for potential Carbon Monoxide exposure Monday.

"When you have multiple students that feel that way, obviously there is a concern there," said Lane Findlay with Weber County School District.

It started out with five students who weren't feeling well during their medical anatomy class.

"It was in an upstairs classroom, we’re told it got kind of warm in that room," said Findlay.

Based on the students' symptoms of nausea, dizziness and lightheadedness, all signs pointed to Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

The school district evacuated the classroom and called the North View Fire District to come and check things out.

”Our initial response into the school with a [Carbon Monoxide] meter, we didn’t pick up any CO readings at that time," said Fire Chief Dave Wade with North View Fire District. "Slowly, more people just kept coming saying that they were sick. We needed to evacuate the whole school at that point."

The first department called in reinforcements from the Weber Fire Department and the Weber County Health Department. Three checkpoint stations were then set up around the campus, to check out anyone who began exhibiting symptoms.

The crew's first goal was to get everyone treated.

"How are they feeling? Who needs immediate care? And what that care may be," Lane said.

The departments treated 57 people in total, two of which were taken to the hospital.

"We are waiting for results at the hospital on those two we transported, to see what caused them to be sick and those oxygen levels to spike," Wade said.

Their second goal was to find a source.

"Hazmat teams went through the whole school again and they had some light readings of CO which isn’t that high," said Wade, explaining that you could find minimal levels of Carbon Monoxide in your home when a furnace kicks on.

Unfortunately, they never were able to find a source.

"We would love to find something obviously and say 'Here’s the source, we can correct it,'” Wade said. "But at this point, there’s no readings."