Officials issue statements regarding Jan. 23 carbon monoxide leak at Cumby Collegiate ISD

Cumby Collegiate ISD Superintendent Shelly Slaughter, in a letter to the school district and city residents, along with a report from the Hopkins County Fire Department staff, provided some additional details which were not yet available when the school buildings were evacuated for a noxious odor suspected to be carbon monoxide on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

Per Slaughter’s statement, “One HVAC unit at the current high school building was emitting some carbon monoxide into the building. In addition, a cleaner being used inside may have contributed to staff and students not feeling well after being combined with high levels of chlorine to produce unexpected side effects of a strong odor and possible additional amounts of carbon monoxide.'

All high school faculty and students were evacuated to the gymnasium and evaluated by Hopkins County EMS personnel. The AMBUS also responded in case multiple people needed treatment.

The CCISD statement acknowledged “breakdowns in protocols that started within the district around who has the authority to make initial reports in these type[s of] situations, how the report needs to be made, and to whom the report should go. Because of the breakdown, the District had a meeting after school on Wednesday, Jan. 24 to discuss the incident, what went wrong and training we will all participate in throughout the remainder of the year. This incident allowed us to see the need for more in-depth training for all staff over our emergency Operations Plan.”

Parents and guardians were notified of the incident via email at around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, with text message updates sent at 12 p.m. and 3:04 p.m. A final message was delivered via the district’s website and an all-call at 8:30 p.m. Slaughter noted that some teachers were communicating with parents during the incident via phone calls and Class Dojo messages, but these messages were not consistent with the official messages and caused more confusion.

“Moving forward, we will ensure that the same statement/information is sent out in more than one format/platform of communication, as well as ensure the same statement/information is being sent out. We have two platforms we have been using this year as we are discontinuing use of one and transitioning to Apptegy/Rooms. This was one of the lessons learned from the Tuesday incident,” Slaughter said in her statement Hopkins County Fire Engine 20 driver Cooper Adams’ written narrative of the incident was also posted on social media. His report stated that the initial phone call was received at 9:58 a.m., reporting a possible gas leak at Cumby High School. Both Hopkins County and Cumby Volunteer Fire Departments were dispatched. Cumby VFD, who notified ATMOS of a possible gas leak, was first on scene and “began to monitor the high school with a gas/CO [carbon monoxide] meter. The Cumby VFD crew had a high reading of CO levels in the school (approximately 23-23 parts per million [ppm], and began to evacuate the school. Students were triaged and separated if they had complaints of symptoms in line with [carboon monoxide] exposure. Evacuation was almost complete when Engine 20 arrived and two personnel entered the building. Fire personnel began to check students’ vitals, as they had complaints of headaches, upset stomachs and difficulty breathing. Patient care was moved to the new gym to get the patients out of the weather. Multiple Hopkins County EMS arrived on scene, including the AMBUS, along with Hopkins County Sheriff ’s Office and Emergency Management personnel. Atmos Energy personnel arrived and began to check for gas leaks. They found none, but there continued to be a high reading of [carbon monoxide] (approximately 10-18 ppm).”

A Cumby ISD officer contacted the school’s HVAC contractor, as a heater was suspected to be a possible source of the issue. A technician arrived, and, along with the Hopkins County engine crew, began checking rooftop HVAC units. Readings of carbon monoxide (approximately 6-8 PPM) were detected from the discharge side of one unit located on the northeast part of the roof. When the unit was turned on, carbon monoxide discharge levels jumped to approximately 25-30 ppm. The technician advised he could smell a strong odor of gas or burnt gas on the discharge side of the unit. On the back side of the unit, another Hopkins County crew member observed a reading of approximately 850 ppm of carbon monoxide. The unit’s breaker was shut off. Crews then set up multiple positive pressure ventilation fans to ventilate the building. After two rounds of ventilation, the carbon monoxide levels decreased.

[According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “carbon monoxide levels in homes without gas stoves vary from 0.5 to 5 parts ppm. Levels near properly adjusted gas stoves are often 5 to 15 ppm and those near poorly adjusted stoves may be 30 ppm or higher. No standards for CO have been agreed upon for indoor air. The U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards for outdoor air are 9 ppm (40,000 micrograms per meter cubed) for 8 hours, and 35 ppm for 1 hour.”] Multiple checks were made of the campus to make sure all carbon monoxide was exhausted from the building, including a follow-up check the next day before school started.

There was a report of a gas smell in the elementary building, so that building was evacuated as well, and the students sent to the gym. The elementary building was checked on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, prior to the start of school. No gas was detected Atmos Energy crews also completed a pressure test of both buildings as a precaution.

A community meeting was held in the campus’ cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, to discuss the incident with those in attendance.