Posted on: Thursday, March 15, 2001
Radford High illness unexplained
By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer
Officials may never know definitively what caused a chemical incident yesterday at Radford High School, sending 27 students and 11 adults to nearby hospitals with symptoms ranging from itchy throats to rashes.
All had been treated and released by noon yesterday, and school was expected to be open today.
Principal Robert Stevens said he was initially concerned that the exposure could be mercury brought over from the nearby Pu'uwai Momi public housing project, which was contaminated over the weekend and has been evacuated since Monday.
"It's nothing to do with mercury," said Capt. Richard Soo, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.
But even after the air at Radford was tested, Soo could not say what the chemical could be. Pepper spray was one possibility, officials said.
Less than three hours after the first instances of illness became known, Stevens ordered the campus closed for the remainder of the day.
The incident started about 8:15 a.m. when several students and workers in the cafeteria noticed symptoms from a chemical exposure while eating and serving breakfast. The school staff called County Emergency Medical Services, which arrived minutes later.
Two of the fire department's hazardous materials units arrived at 8:35 a.m. The HazMat units shut down the cafeteria and conducted air monitoring.
Eight Radford students were "washed down" and decontaminated in the parking lot and were to be taken to Tripler Army Medical Center. Six cafeteria workers, three custodians and two educational assistants were also hospitalized.
The other 19 students were not washed down and did not complain of itchy throats or rashes, but they felt they were exposed to the chemical. Those students were taken to the Pali Momi or Kaiser hospital, Soo said.
Stevens said he shut down the school because with the cafeteria closed there was no way to feed students. At about 11 a.m., teachers were notified to send their students home.
"The teachers and kids were very good," he said." I want to thank the parents for their cooperation."
Vicky Franz, a cafeteria worker at the school, said there are usually about 100 students in the cafeteria for breakfast on any given day.
Margaret Tippy, public affairs officer for Tripler, said emergency room doctors determined that the symptoms were consistent with a surface irritant such as pepper spray.
Symptoms included stinging eyes, coughing, itchy throats and a rash.
Stevens said he wasn't worried about further exposure yesterday. Scheduled sports activities were held as usual last night.
Brennan Bew, a ninth-grader, said she was in class when she heard about the chemical exposure. Brennan said she was glad it was nothing serious, but was looking forward to the day off.
