WESTERLY, R.I. -- <\/p>\n
It was an unexpected end to the school day for more than a dozen students at Westerly High School on Friday, after they apparently got sick from fumes in a biology classroom. <\/p>\n
The first incident happened at about 8 a.m. when two students fainted within a few minutes of each other. <\/p>\n
About an hour later, more students complained of symptoms and everyone in the science wing was moved to the auditorium. <\/p>\n
\"We had an evacuation at like 9 o'clock this morning,\" one student said. <\/p>\n
A total of 17 students and one teacher were affected, and seven people were transported to Westerly Hospital. <\/p>\n
\"There was something related to a chemical in the biology lab. They shut down the science wing, and they're not letting any of the kids go in there,\" said student Jordan Degiacomo. <\/p>\n
All of the students who felt sick were either in the biology classroom or adjacent to it. The class had planned to dissect a cow's heart and other specimens, preserved with a chemical called formalin. <\/p>\n
\"For a lay person, formalin perhaps could be watered down formaldehyde,\" said Chief David Sayles of the Westerly Fire Department. <\/p>\n
Sayles called in the Hope Valley-Wyoming hazardous materials team and the Department of Environmental Management as a precaution. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read the original: WESTERLY, R.I. -- It was an unexpected end to the school day for more than a dozen students at Westerly High School on Friday, after they apparently got sick from fumes in a biology classroom. The first incident happened at about 8 a.m. Continue reading
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