{"id":369537,"date":"2010-02-27T10:15:39","date_gmt":"2010-02-27T15:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/press-releases\/gas-leak-sickens-many-at-indiana-high-school"},"modified":"2010-02-27T10:15:39","modified_gmt":"2010-02-27T15:15:39","slug":"gas-leak-sickens-many-at-indiana-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/369537","title":{"rendered":"Gas leak sickens many at Indiana high school"},"content":{"rendered":"

CEDAR LAKE, Ind.\u00a0(STMW)\u00a0 — A natural gas leak that smelled like “car exhaust” sent 47 Hanover Central High School students and teachers to area hospitals Friday morning.<\/p>\n

\nAs a precaution, Hanover Community School Corp. officials dismissed the middle and high school students as emergency responders and investigators swarmed the school, located at 10120 W. 133rd Ave.<\/p>\n

\nInvestigators determined the gas leak came from a faulty stove valve in one of the high school home economics classrooms, Cedar Lake Fire Chief Todd Wilkening said.<\/p>\n

\nAfter making several safety checks with the school’s air handling system throughout the building, “everything checked out fine,” Wilkening said.<\/p>\n

\nSchool Superintendent Carol Kaiser said she expects classes to resume Monday.<\/p>\n

\nEarlier in the day, 45 students and two teachers went to the hospital after feeling ill with flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n

\nStudents reported feeling sick at about 9:45 a.m., Cedar Lake Police Chief Roger Patz said.<\/p>\n

\nSchool officials advised students and faculty through the school’s public announcement system to report to the gymnasium if they felt sick.<\/p>\n

\nReported symptoms included vomiting, nose bleeds, headaches and nausea.<\/p>\n

\nAmbulances transported those who sought a medical checkup to Community Hospital in Munster, Saint Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point, Saint Margaret Mercy in Dyer and The Methodist Hospitals in Merrillville.<\/p>\n

\nThey were all treated and released by Friday afternoon, Wilkening said.<\/p>\n

\nAs soon as school officials determined the school would close, they alerted parents and guardians about the situation through an automated emergency call system.<\/p>\n

\nCynthia Singleton, a mother of two Hanover Central students, received an automated phone message alerting her that school was canceled due to “unknown circumstances.”<\/p>\n

\n“Honestly, I didn’t know what to think,” said Singleton, of Cedar Lake.<\/p>\n

\nShe said she breathed a sigh of relief only when she reached her children through their cell phones.<\/p>\n

\n“I just needed more information as a parent,” she said. <\/span>“You panic until you find out what’s going on.”<\/p>\n

\nAfter dismissal, students streamed out into the parking lot to get to their cars.<\/p>\n

\n“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said 17-year-old Jordan Westhoff, a high school junior, as he surveyed the scene standing in the parking lot.<\/p>\n

\n“When they told us to stay in our rooms, I first thought ‘OK, it’s a drug search,’” he said.<\/p>\n

\nHazardous materials teams and emergency vehicles from surrounding jurisdictions, including Lakes of the Four Seasons and Beecher, Ill., lined the school’s athletic center entrance.<\/p>\n

\nOther students who either took the bus or had their parents pick them up were bused to Jane Ball Elementary School for their rides.<\/p>\n

\n“I just have a headache,” said Ryan Yaverski, a high school junior, as he walked to the parking lot passing by dozens of emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n

\nThe odor reminded him of “car exhaust.”<\/p>\n

\nShelby Mager, a high school senior, agreed.<\/p>\n

\nShe was in a home economics class when she noticed the odor.<\/p>\n

\nMager, 18, and some of her classmates suspected it came from the “cooking room.”<\/p>\n

\n“Because once we moved to the sewing room, (the odor) wasn’t as strong,” she said. “… I think (canceling school) was a necessary precaution.”<\/p>\n

\nAbby Schweitzer, a senior, credited the faculty and staff for keeping the situation orderly.<\/p>\n

\n“They were calm and steady,” said Schweitzer, 18.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read the original article from WBBM News Radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CEDAR LAKE, Ind.\u00a0(STMW)\u00a0 — A natural gas leak that smelled like “car exhaust” sent 47 Hanover Central High School students and teachers to area hospitals Friday morning. As a precaution, Hanover Community School Corp. officials dismissed the middle and high school students as emergency responders and investigators swarmed the school, located at 10120 W. 133rd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}