Fumes Sicken Dozens at School

Natural gas fumes sickened dozens of children Wednesday morning at a Santa Clarita junior high school, sending nine to the hospital with complaints of nausea and headaches. None of the cases was considered serious, authorities said.

The “rotten egg” odor that is added to the gas for safety reasons traveled from a site three miles southwest of the school where the Southern California Gas Co. was releasing gas while relocating a transmission pipeline, a company official said.

More than 60 youngsters complained of nausea and headaches as the strong odor wafted onto the campus at La Mesa Junior High School about 10:30 a.m., said Robert C. Lee, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

More than 25 firefighters and paramedics and 10 ambulances were sent to the school, which has 1,450 seventh- and eighth-graders enrolled. A triage was set up in the school’s multipurpose room, where students were given water and, in some cases, oxygen as they waited at tables covered in red-and-white checkered cloths.

Three district nurses coordinated evaluation of the children as school officials contacted parents. Most youngsters said they felt better by noon, when school was dismissed early to air out any remaining fumes.

Sheriff’s deputies cordoned off surrounding residential streets as buses and cars lined up to retrieve children while police and news helicopters hovered overhead.

The pipeline is one of two major transmission backbone lines that cross through the Santa Clarita Valley carrying natural gas supplies for Southern California customers, said Tony Tartaglia, a Gas Co. district manager.

About a five-mile section of the pipeline is being relocated to allow construction of a 1,500-home development nearby within Los Angeles County, he said.

About 400 homes have been completed in Pardee Development’s Fair Oaks Ranch, south of the Antelope Valley Freeway at Via Princessa. The pipeline is being relocated for further grading and construction.

City and county officials were notified Tuesday that workers would purge gas from the line Wednesday morning, which is the usual procedure. School officials are not normally notified, Tartaglia said.

“This is a fairly routine thing we do when we have to relocate or work on this type of transmission pipeline,” he said. Workers began releasing the gas after 9 a.m. from the company’s Quigley Canyon facility.

The gas quickly dissipated into the air, but the distinctive odor is heavier and apparently settled onto the campus. “It kind of fell into the area when the wind stopped,” Tartaglia said.

“It’s highly pungent for a reason, so that when you smell it, you know what it is,” Tartaglia said. He noted that natural gas is odorless, and that the odorant, while noxious to smell, is not harmful.

“We have ceased purging, and we do not anticipate doing anything further in the near future,” he said.