SUFFOLK, Va. — More than 70 students at Nansemond River High School in Suffolk are being evaluated for respiratory irritation after a fire extinguisher discharged on campus Tuesday morning, officials said.
At 1:15 p.m., Suffolk Fire & Rescue said that 12 patients -- one adult and 11 minors -- had been taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the incident. One other student was taken by a parent to a hospital and is also believed to have non-life-threatening injuries.
Earlier in the day, Fire & Rescue had said that 16 students were being transported to area hospitals but later revised that number downward. Officials said an additional 60 students were evaluated in the auditorium after complaining of respiratory irritation.
The Suffolk Fire Marshal's Office found that the fire extinguisher was accidentally knocked from its wall mount as students were moving in the hallway in between classes.
“It’s important to note that no student intentionally discharged this extinguisher, which would be a crime. It was all accidental. It appears it fell directly off the wall, contacted the ground, and discharged the propellant all over the place,” Suffolk Fire Chief Michael Barakey said. “At one point there were 70 children that were complaining of upper respiratory illness and irritation.”
It prompted the school to move into a "Code Yellow" emergency status, according to a news release from Suffolk Public Schools. According to the school division, in a Code Yellow situation, classrooms are locked, no one leaves the room or area, and only designated persons are allowed in the hall. It's used for non-threatening emergencies.
A photo from Nanesemond River High School student Carley Walter showed smoky hallway. She said it all happened as she moved in the hallway between classes.
“People thought it was like a shooting or people were fighting because there was lots of screaming. But there was like a huge cloud of smoke and everybody was running," she said. "There was like a crowd of people.”
Suffolk Fire-Rescue said firefighters responded to the school just before 10 a.m. Since then, the area where the extinguisher was discharged has been isolated and the HVAC system has been secured, according to Suffolk Fire-Rescue.
Officials said there was never a fire in the school. The fire extinguisher contains a dry chemical powder that is designed to suppress flames.
The school district issued the following statement in its news release:
"We are thankful for our strong partnership with Suffolk Fire and Rescue and the City of Suffolk for assisting in our communication efforts and responding promptly and efficiently to this situation. Again, we take all school safety incidents seriously and want to inform our community of today’s events."
A spokesperson for Suffolk City Public Schools said administrators notified parents of the affected students, immediately and later in the morning, the spokesperson said administrators sent a letter to the entire school telling them what happened.
But some parents say they’re frustrated that everyone did not get alerted as soon as it happened.
“My daughter is in the school and she’s going to be texting me immediately when it happens. I think they need to let everyone know that this has happened," parent Theresa Walter said. “You know, kids with their phones... she’s sending me pictures of a smoke-filled hallway and kids running through the hall. No, I don’t want to get that and then not hear from the school until two hours later.”
A school spokesperson said classes continued as normal for students not affected by the accident.
“If the kids can tell us, why couldn’t they tell us? As soon as it happened they should have put together that email and alerted us then," Ebony Person said. “We just got the email. The only reason I pulled up is because my daughter finally sent the article to me. I’m like, ‘It made it to the news?’ I’m thinking it’s just a small incident. She’s like, 'No, it’s a very big incident. A lot of us are going to the nurse, to the doctors, everybody’s leaving.'"
