Amfac probed in
herbicide spill that
evacuated school

Kauai fire officials
believe a weed retardant was
responsible for illnesses

By Anthony Sommer
Star-Bulletin

HANAMAULU, Kauai -- Kauai Fire Department hazardous material experts believe a spill of a weed retardant by an Amfac crew created an irritating chemical gas cloud that forced the evacuation of more than 900 students and staff from King Kaumualii Elementary School yesterday morning.

The fumes sent 41 school children and two adults to Wilcox Memorial Hospital for treatment of nausea, stomach cramps, eye irritation and difficulty breathing.

One student was admitted for observation. The rest were released to their parents.

Classes were to resume today at the school, officials said.

Investigators yesterday afternoon found a stripe of yellow liquid 73 yards long and from 6 inches to more than a foot wide along a cane-haul road at Lihue Plantation, about 600 yards upwind of the school.

By Anthony Sommer, Star-Bulletin
Kauai Police Chief George Freitas notifies Gay Balmores that
her 9-year-old daughter was one of 41 students taken to Wilcox
Memorial Hospital to be treated for eye irritation and respiratory
distress caused by a noxious gas that forced the evacuation of
more than 800 students from King Kaumualii Elementary School.

The material was identified as Prowl, a liquid sprayed by helicopter on sugar cane to discourage weed growth. Amfac employees told fire investigators the material was flushed from a truck at the helicopter landing site at about 9:30 a.m. The fire department received a call from the school at 10:09 a.m.

Fire officials said the truck normally is flushed out in a specially-built sump. It wasn't clear why yesterday it was emptied on a dirt road instead, they said.

Capt. Myles Taniguchi of the Hazardous Materials Unit said the symptoms of exposure to Prowl matched those suffered by the school children.

Doctors were frustrated at not knowing exactly what was causing the irritation, said hospital spokeswoman Lani Yukimura.

Amfac did not report the spill and the case has been turned over to the State Health Department and federal Environmental Protection Agency for investigation, Taniguchi said. After the evacuation, firefighters in protective clothing went through each room to ensure no children remained. Later, they went back into the school 0to rescue a cockatiel and a rabbit -- both pets in a classroom.

Children who were not hospitalized were bused to Kauai War Memorial Convention Center in Lihue, where hundreds of parents waited to pick them up.

Tim Bynum, who was waiting to pick up his daughter, Kelly, a fourth grader, said he was relieved when he heard on his car radio that none of the children were seriously ill. His daughter did not suffer any ill effects.

"I was on my way to the school and I saw an ambulance coming," he said. "That shook me."

Kelsey Sumida, a King Kaumualii fifth grader was still wearing a hospital bracelet and a green sticker attached to his shirt at the hospital triage center. "We were in reading class and they told us to go back to the classroom and there was this smell so we went out in single file to the playground," he said "There were paramedics there and some people were having a hard time breathing."

Kuhio Highway, the major artery from Hanamaulu through Kapaia to Lihue was closed for about an hour early yesterday afternoon. Twenty-nine children from Lihue Hongwanji Preschool in Kapaia were evacuated as a precaution after one teacher complained of breathing difficulties.

Kauai School Superintendent Daniel Hamada said the evacuation went flawlessly. "All those fire drills paid off," he said.

Yukimura said a disaster drill was scheduled at the hospital for yesterday. "It took a little while for some of our employees to realize this was the real thing," she said.