Sickened Students Prompt School Evacuation
POSTED: Wednesday, September 26, 2007
UPDATED: 8:33 am EDT September 27,
2007
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- St. Hugo of the Hills School will remain closed Thursday after students at St Hugo's of the Hills Church in Bloomfield Hills were evacuated around 9 a.m. on Wednesday after reports that several students became sick.
Several students reported feeling ill and one passed out during morning Mass.
"We got a call about 9 a.m. that 10 children were sick from St. Hugo's Church, which is down from the school. They were exhibiting signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. They had headaches, nausea and vomiting. One person even passed out," said Bloomfield Hills Public Safety Director Rick Matott.
Matott said they received another call around 10 a.m. from the school reporting more illnesses at the school, which is located about 100 yards from the church.
The school was also evacuated.
Hazardous materials teams investigated the school and the church and were not able to find the cause of the illnesses. Officials have ruled it was not carbon monoxide.
Firefighters went through both buildings with maintenance workers and shut down air-conditioning units believed to be the cause of the illnesses.
Investigators told Local 4 News that the police and hazardous materials team have done everything they could to find the source of the problem, but they still do not have any answers.
Police said the next step may be getting the health department involved.
The remaining students have been taken to nearby Oakland Community College campus on Long Lake Road.
Parents were asked to pick up their children from the OCC campus.
Eight hundred sixty students attend the school.
William Beaumont Hospital officials confirmed they have treated and released the eight students.
Public Safety Director Talks About EvacuationStay with Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.com for further developments.
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