70 Children Taken to Hospitals Because of CO Fumes at Chicago School

Oct. 30--About 70 children and seven adults from a Northwest Side elementary school were taken to hospitals to be treated for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning Friday morning, authorities said.

None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, according to Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Mark Nielsen. He said a boiler in the main building of Prussing Elementary School at 4650 N. Menard Ave. apparently was the source of carbon monoxide fumes.

Nielsen said school officials called the department shortly before 9:30 a.m. after some reported dizziness, headaches and nausea. Everyone in the building was evacuated, first just outdoors, then to mobile units surrounding the main building, he said.

No one was unconscious or appeared to have life-threatening injuries, Nielsen said.

Fire crews were able to reduce the carbon monoxide levels down to zero by turning off the boiler and opening doors and windows, he said. Further investigation is expected to confirm the source of the gas leak.

Aerial footage showed students sitting on the curb and sidewalks outside the school. Several of them were wrapped in blankets and were being administered oxygen.

Students not hospitalized were taken to another school, police said.

Parents waited for as long as two hours outside the school, frantically calling their children's cell phones as emergency vehicles drove past. Some cried when they learned their child was in an ambulance.

Adam Feliciano saw his 6-year-old daughter Julia exiting a mobile building with teachers and classmates, and knew she was OK. His wife called him upset earlier after receiving a "vague" phone call from Chicago Public Schools, he said.

He learned from media reports of the gas leak and rushed to the school from work. Feliciano said he was told to pick up his daughter from a nearby school.

Around noon, children and staff -- many dressed in Halloween costumes -- filed out of the school's mobile buildings. They either left with parents or boarded buses to a nearby school.

Check back for updates.

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