HIGHTSTOWN: Lab fumes cause for school’s closing

Left over fumes from a chemistry experiment are believed to have sickened three Hightstown High School teachers and caused the evacuation of almost 1,500 students on Jan. 17.

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — Left over fumes from a chemistry experiment are believed to have sickened three Hightstown High School teachers and caused the evacuation of almost 1,500 students on Jan. 17.
   According to officials, the incident occurred at 8:43 a.m. at the high school located at 25 Leshin Lane.
   Schools Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer said the incident occurred in Room 602, a science lab at the school.
   When officers arrived at the school, it was determined that a faculty member had been overcome by chemical fumes in the science lab. The Hightstown Fire Department was dispatched to the scene and school was evacuated by school officials and members of the Hightstown Police Department, according to a police department press release.
   Students on the scene said chemistry teacher Dr. Franco Paoletti was removing the fume hood of an experiment enclosure when he became ill.
   Kiani Bonner, 16, of East Windsor said she knew what happened.
   ”It was my teacher,” said Kiani. “In first period, my teacher came in saying how he needed to go to the nurse and my other teacher (a student teacher) stayed there.”
   Dr. Paoletti did not return to teach during the second period.
   ”He didn’t come back to class and then next period he just passed out and we had the drill,” Kiani said.
   Tasia Teele, 17, of East Windsor noted she saw Dr. Paoletti being taken out on a stretcher.
   Fatima Kaba, 17, of East Windsor, hopes he is “OK.” “He’s a great teacher,” said Fatima, adding she is in his chemistry class. “He’s always happy and excited.”
   Hightstown Engine Co. No. 1 arrived on location within 2 minutes of being dispatched.
   ”We got toned out for a haz-mat situation at the high school,” said Chief Scott Jenkins on Monday.
   Chief Jenkins arrived on location to find the school still occupied at the time.
   ”I immediately gave orders to evacuate the school,” Chief Jenkins said, adding that he instructed someone to “pull the pull station” to activate the fire alarm and evacuate the school.
   ”I sent in a team on air to do a primary search to make sure everyone was evacuated and no one was down inside,” Chief Jenkins said. “We had to just let the haz-mat teams do their job.”
   Chief Jenkins dispatched hazardous material response teams from around the area including Hamilton, West Trenton and West Windsor while responding to the incident.
   ”I had a de-con station and rehab station set up” in front of the school, Chief Jenkins said.
   The haz-mat teams determined that the chemical fumes were contained inside of the fume hood, which was not properly ventilating. The science lab room and remainder of the high school was not affected, according to the press release.
   Mr. Forsthoffer said the device is meant to remove fumes from experiments and had been used on Thursday for an experiment that mixed hydrochloric acid and zinc.
   He said the fumes that sickened the teacher were likely left over from the previous day’s experiment.
   ”It gets airborne and once it gets airborne it will make people sick,” Chief Jenkins said. “Luckily, there wasn’t a high exposure rate so everything had dissipated in a timely fashion.”
   A multi-gas meter was used to take readings inside the school.
   ”The only readings we found were in the hood of the ventilation system which is normal,” Chief Jenkins said. “The rest of the school was completely clear with no readings so everything had dissipated by then.”
   After two other teachers complained of minor headaches in the area of the room, a fire drill was conducted to evacuate the students from the building, he said. Once emergency crews arrived and it was determined that the incident would take some time to clear up, he made the decision to put the students on buses so they could be warm.
   ”We had some kids evacuated to the Peddie School on buses,” Chief Jenkins said.
   Parents who came to the school hoping to pick up their children were not able to do so.
   Parent Miriam Patino was looking for her son and said that the high school parents received a phone call at 10:11 a.m. advising them of the situation.
   ”I got the phone not to come but I’m already here,” Ms. Patino said on Friday. “They sent out an alert just saying that there’s been a leak at the school. There was a teacher who didn’t feel well and they reported it. They decided to take protocol and have an emergency evacuation.”
   Walkers were dismissed around 11 a.m. and could be seen coming towards the front of the high school from around the side of the building.
   ”I know someone passed out, like a teacher,” said Rachel Choi, 14, of Hightstown.
   Police, fire and rescue crews from a number of agencies responded to the scene including hazardous waste units, representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
   In addition to the three teachers, a fourth was treated for a head injury after tripping and falling during the building’s evacuation.
   All of the teachers except Mr. Paoletti had been released from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton on Friday afternoon.
   Mr. Forsthoffer said that he was in contact with Mr. Paoletti’s wife, but did not have an update on his condition.
   There were no student injuries during the incident, he said.
   Mr. Forsthoffer said he decided to close the school for the rest of the day around 11:30 a.m. and shuffled the students to their correct buses to go home.
   Because of the nature of the event, students did not have time to get their jackets or other personal belongings and had to pick them up later, Mr. Forsthoffer said.
   He said the school had been cleared by emergency crews and environmental specialists around 1 p.m. with no traces of the fumes in the building.The school had a cleanup crew on location, Chief Jenkins said.
   The Hightstown Police Department, Hightstown Fire Department, East Windsor Fire Department, West Windsor Fire Department, Trenton Fire Department, hazardous material response teams from West Windsor, Trenton and the Hamilton Police Department, Capital Health Emergency Medical Services, Cranbury EMS, Monroe EMS, Princeton EMS and Robbinsville EMS assisted on scene.
Mr. Forsthoffer praised the actions by all of the responding crews.”They all did a great job,” he said.
   Chief Jenkins did a final walk through of the building along with a team leader from the haz-mat team, the EPA and the Health Department.
   ”We got lucky, it could’ve been a lot worse,” Chief Jenkins said. “All the kids were OK.”