Romoland school closes after two boys play with mercury

A day after two boys were discovered playing with mercury at a Riverside County elementary school, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday told county officials to evacuate more than 950 students and called in teams to determine whether the hazardous material had been properly cleaned up.

County officials said they had learned that after school Tuesday, the boys, ages 6 and 9, allegedly climbed through a fence into the yard of a welding shop in Romoland and stole vials of mercury.

The boys opened the vials and played with them at home Tuesday night.

At school Wednesday morning, a teacher noticed that the substance was rolling off at least one boy’s clothing, breaking up into beads and spilling onto the floor, county officials said.

As soon as officials at Harvest Valley Elementary School noticed the substance, they called 911 and poison control, according to Bonnie Plough, acting superintendent of the Romoland School District.

The county’s hazardous-materials team assessed the situation and gave the school a list of vendors equipped to handle environmental spills.

The boys were sent to the school’s health office and later evaluated at a hospital, fire officials said. No charges have been filed.

Capt. Julie Hutchinson of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the boys underwent decontamination procedures, which included scrubbing them with soap and water.

Six other children were also washed and checked for symptoms of mercury poisoning, which can include tremors, muscle weakness, headaches, shortness of breath and chest tightness. Mercury can cause problems if it is inhaled or ingested or comes into contact with an open wound.

No children have reported symptoms, according to Sarah Mack of Riverside County’s public health department.

Students returned to school Thursday, but Mack said county officials had been in contact with federal officials and decided to send all the children home and cancel today’s classes.

Mack said county and school officials had become alarmed and asked the EPA for assistance when students began coming forward to say they had seen the boys playing with the mercury in other areas of the school.

Mack said the amount was small and that the risk of exposure was very low. “Honestly, what the message needs to be is that the additional testing and sampling at the school is a precautionary measure,” Mack said.

Neither county officials nor the acting superintendent was able to provide the name of the contractor who was called in Wednesday to clean up the classroom.

Plough, the acting superintendent, said in an e-mail that the contractor was approved for the cleanup work required.

The school district had its own list, which included the “registered environmental assessor” who was called in, Mack said.

“I can’t speak to this person’s qualifications,” said Mack, who was fielding calls for the hazardous-materials team and the health department Thursday.

Mark Merchant, an EPA spokesman, said officials often clean up mercury with sulfur-based powders that bind with the element and prevent it from vaporizing -- which can happen near room temperature -- as well as special vacuum cleaners that are designed not to break up the substance into smaller pieces.

An EPA spokesman who arrived at the school Thursday afternoon said teams from Northern California and Las Vegas were en route with special equipment.

“Right now, we have contractors going room by room very carefully measuring the amount of mercury,” said Francisco Arcaute of the EPA. “Any amount of mercury is worth being concerned about.”

maeve.reston@latimes.com