Oct. 30--Seven people from Harper High School were taken to area hospitals after fire crews were dispatched to check levels of carbon monoxide at the school and found students sickened by odors unrelated to carbon monoxide, officials said.
Six initially were in fair-to-serious condition and the seventh in good-to-fair condition, but all seven were in good condition on final transport, according to Fire Department spokesmen. Crews originally were sent to check carbon-monoxide levels, but did not find CO elevated to a dangerous level, said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
Instead, it appears students may have been sickened by an odor drawn into the school from a Water Management Department sewer project nearby, Langford said. The Fire Department determined, however, that there was no danger to those at the school, he said.
Crews were called to the school about 10:05 a.m. after a teacher and students reported a smell, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said.
Everyone was evacuated from the school, Estrada said, and crews started to investigate.
Peoples Gas spokeswoman Bonnie Johnson said utility crews were called to 6520 S. Wood St. and they assisted the fire department in their investigation of a foreign odor at Harper High School.
But in the end, officials found that "Natural gas played no part in the situation at Harper," Langford said.
