50 Pupils, 4 Teachers Injured by Fumes : More Than 700 Flee Vapors From Illegally Dumped Gasoline

Fifty students and four teachers at a San Fernando Valley elementary school were treated at hospitals for minor injuries Monday after they inhaled fumes from gasoline that was illegally dumped in a nearby sewer line, authorities said.

San Fernando police and Los Angeles Fire Department emergency crews were called to O’Melveny Elementary School, in the 700 block of Woodworth Street, about 10 a.m. after several students and teachers became ill from exposure to the fumes.

Although there were no serious injuries reported, the students and teachers were treated for nausea, dizziness, eye irritation and headaches at local hospitals, Los Angeles Fire Inspector Ed Reed said.

730 Students Evacuated

The rest of the student body, nearly 730 students, was evacuated to nearby San Fernando High School as a Fire Department hazardous materials team tried to find the source of the fumes, Reed said.

Residents of homes near the school were not evacuated, but were advised to stay inside and to keep their windows and doors closed.

Fire officials said they traced the source of the gasoline vapors to a sewer line that runs under the school.

“Somebody in the area apparently had some unwanted gasoline and poured it into the sewer system,” Reed said. “We don’t know where the gasoline was actually dumped. It could have been some distance from the school.”

The inspector said it was not determined how much gasoline was dumped, but that it was a “large amount.”

Reed said the gasoline fumes apparently caused a “low-grade” explosion in the sewer line that runs under the school, creating “enough pressure to force fumes into toilets, water fountains and sinks at the school.”

‘My Stomach Started Hurting’

Fourth-grader Melissa Real said “when I came out for recess, my stomach started hurting.”

Moments after she told her teacher that she was feeling ill the school was evacuated, the 9-year-old said as she sat inside an ambulance with several other children waiting to be taken to a nearby hospital for observation.

Another student, 11-year-old Amy Guerrero, said “my eyes kind of got watery and my head was hurting” from breathing the fumes. Amy, who did not have to be hospitalized, said she started feeling better after students were taken to the high school two blocks away.

There, the children were treated to a lunch of hot dogs, milk and Popsicles. Afterward, the students watched a movie as they waited for their parents to pick them up.

Bob Reimann, a school district official, said he spoke to several parents as they arrived at the high school.

“They were just thankful that the kids were OK,” Reimann said. “They were really appreciative of the way everything was handled.”

Fire Department Battalion Chief Jack Monroe, who was supervising the hazardous materials operation, said workers from San Fernando’s Department of Sanitation flushed the sewer system with water from high pressure hoses late Monday afternoon.

Investigation Continues

San Fernando police said they were trying to determine who is responsible for dumping the gasoline.

“We will be conducting a follow-up investigation,” said Sgt. Bill Miron. “But at this particular time we have no leads.”