MIDVIEW SCHOOL GIVEN ALL CLEAR

AFTER INTENSIVE SWEEP OF SCHOOL

Officials from the Eaton Township Fire Department made an intensive sweep of Midview High School at 9 a.m. this morning in an attempt to find the source of the problem that sickened a number of student ROTC personnel from three different states last night.

The Columbia Township Fire Department along with the Lorain County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security provided additional personnel and equipment. Midview School Superintendent Howard Dulmage and school maintenance personnel were also on hand.

Last night, twenty-seven ROTC members were taken by ambulance or private vehicle to Elyria Memorial Hospital Regional Medical Center, Allen Medical Center in Oberlin, and St. John West Shore Hospital in Westlake. The breakdown by hospital is as follows:

EMH: 18 (2 refused treatment)
Allen: 3
St. John West Shore 5

The incident commander utilized three hospitals in an effort to keep from overwhelming any one individual facility. Personnel and rescue units from 5 different fire departments responded. The initial call for help reporting a person passed out came in through Lorain County 9-1-1 at 4:16PM.

Under advice from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the school was shut last night and monitoring was done this morning in an attempt to duplicate any problem that may have occurred last night. Four different makes of monitoring equipment were used in the two-hour sweep of the school, checking for levels of carbon monoxide and oxygen. All floor and sink drains, garbage disposal units, air handling vents, and roof top air handlers were checked. There were negative (zero) readings for carbon monoxide during the entire time. Oxygen levels in the school remained constant with no fluctuations. A heating and cooling contractor used by the school system completely checked all of the boilers flues, which also resulted in negative readings.

During the incident last night, there was concern that the cause may have been food borne. That problem has been initially been ruled out for the time being because the symptoms that included dizziness and light-headedness were not contusive to a food related problem. The Lorain County General Health District was also on scene last night.

Information gathered this morning would be shared with the Lorain County General Health District and the Ohio EPA. The investing is continuing.

School will be open for classes as scheduled tomorrow.