Spooner Fire Chief Issues Press Release Regarding Spooner Middle School Incident

SPOONER, WI -- Spooner Fire Department Chief, Darren Vik, has issued a press release which can be viewed in its entirety below.

Press Release

On Wednesday, November 10, 2021 the Spooner Fire District was dispatched at 9:44 a.m. for an odor at the Spooner Middle School located at 750 Oak St. -- and students feeling ill after being evacuated to the Wesleyan Church -- located at 1000 Maple St. Multiple agencies of law enforcement, EMS and Fire responded to the Wesleyan Church where students and teachers were gathered. Medical Aid was given to students and additional ambulances were ordered.

The fire department also responded to the Spooner Middle School and began to check the building for odor and gas levels. A strong epoxy odor was present at the school but gas detectors did not register any levels of Carbon Monoxide or gas.

Work was being done around the school which included a sewer lining crew working on College St East of School and a construction crew operating motorized equipment on the North side of school building.

The fire department received reports on students and teachers having low levels of CO in their systems. The fire department worked with school staff on Wednesday and Thursday to try and identify the source of the carbon monoxide but at no time were any amounts detected using four different gas detectors. The building has been ordered closed by the fire department to all personnel except for those helping with additional testing. The fire department will continue to assist the school as they work toward being cleared for occupancy.

I would like to thank all the organizations that helped throughout this incident: North Memorial Ambulance, Minong Ambulance, Cumberland Ambulance, Sawyer County Ambulance, Spooner Police Department, Washburn County Sheriff’s Department, WI State Patrol, Washburn County Emergency Government, Washburn County Health Dept, Chemtrec, WI Poison Control, Spooner Health System, Shell Lake Hospital, Cumberland Hospital, Hayward Hospital, Essentia Health St Mary’s Children’s Hospital, WI Dept of Health Services, WI DNR, Spooner Health Systems Infection Control, ER Director and staff, Essentia Health Medical Toxicology, WI Bureau of Environment and Occupational Health and the Wesleyan Church.