Incident On A Tulsa School Bus Sends Students To The Hospital

Thursday, October 26th 2006, 11:08 am

By: News On 6

More than a dozen Tulsa middle school students were taken to the hospital after a chemical scare on a Tulsa school bus. A fire extinguisher sprayed a cloud of chemicals on a busload of students.

News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson says it happened Thursday morning on the trip to school.

The fire extinguisher went off with about 40 kids on the bus, headed to Gilcrease Middle School at 5500 North Cincinnati.

Several said they had trouble breathing. The schoolâ€™s nurse checked the students before ambulances got to the school. When EMSA heard how many victims there could be, the city's Medical Emergency Response Center was activated.

13 children were taken to different hospitals. Paramedics say everyone should be okay. EMSA paramedic Kelly Deal: "Let's say you receive an exposure to a chemical in your garage that irritates your upper airway, a lot of coughing. Some of the children have developed some sputum, or mucus that they're spitting up. But really nothing serious."

The school bus driver tried to mop up the mess, but the residue remains on the floor of the bus. School officials say it seems the driver was squeezing through a construction zone, clipped a curb and the jolt knocked the fire extinguisher loose.

Just as the residue stuck around, so can symptoms. Kids can be coughing for up to three days after something like this.

Tulsa school administrators are looking at surveillance tape from the bus to try to prevent this from happening again.