Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Seaholm Reports No Odor, School Back to Normal

Six people were taken to the hospital after smell from nearby sewer work makes high school's classroom 'unusable.'

School is back in session and there's no more smelly hallways at Friday, a day after foul odors stirred up by nearby sewer construction ended the school day early and sent several people to the hospital.

The and EMS crews were called to the scene early Thursday morning due to complaints of a foul odor that had overtaken an entire wing of the high school, a smell that originated with a resin being used at nearby construction site.

In total, five students and one staff member were taken to the hospital after becoming nauseated, according to spokeswoman Marcia Wilkinson.

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The construction work was part of the reconstruction of Lincoln Avenue, a project by the Oakland County Water Resources that was meant to rehabilitate the sewers along Cranbrook Road.

Crews from Liquiforce, a sewer rehabiliation company based in Romulus, were laying down resin Thursday, Wednesday and Friday last week as part of as part of the process, OCWR manager Sue Coffey said. Some workers were wearing protective clothing known as "haz mat" suits while they laid down the substance, though it's not a requirement.

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"This has never been a public health concern," Coffey said. "This is very unusual."

Birmingham Fire Chief Michael Metz described the situation as "more of an odor than anything else.”  Those who reported feeling ill said they felt better when they got outside into fresh air, he said. 

The fire department called for assistance from the local haz mat unit, which tested the air quality in the school and outside and confirmed low levels of various chemicals in the air, Metz said.

Seaholm freshman Gabe Everett said the smell inside the school "was pretty bad ... it was pretty indescribable."

According to Seaholm science teacher Renee Moore, the smell was akin to a solvent or airplane glue, leaving a metallic taste your mouth while several students experienced watery eyes.

Moore was one of four science teachers based in the school's west wing that originally smelled the odor Friday and then again Wednesday.

Moore said the teachers spoke with workers on the scene Wednesday about the odor, who mentioned that styrene, an organic compound that's toxic at high levels, was present in the resin. Moore said the teachers were concerned, but students were merely moved from the wing for part of the day.

When the odor returned Thursday, school officials tried to move students to the media center and cafeteria, but the odor had permeated the entire wing primarily made up of science and math classrooms.

Metz said the fire department received an anonymous phone call from the school Thursday morning, alerting them to a potential air quality problem. At that point, school officials decided to dismiss classes for the rest of the day.

"... many rooms in the building were deemed unusable due to the mild odor," the district said in an email sent to parents Thursday afternoon.

Coffey confirmed that styrene is one of the chemicals in the resin used to line the sewers. However, she asserted at the levels present in the resin, neither the styrene nor the other chemicals were toxic.

Metz said various chemicals were detected by the haz mat units Thursday, but they weren't present at dangerous levels.

As for how the odor permeated the school, Metz said he suspects the school's air handling system was pulling the smell into the building. Metz advised school officials to turn off the system and let the school air out overnight. He said he expects classes will be able to resume as usual Friday morning.

All after school and evening activities, including tonight's football game, are proceeding as scheduled.

"Contractors have concluded their work for today and no further work is scheduled," the district said in an email sent to parents Thursday afternoon. "The district's facilities department will monitor air flow into the building this evening and classes will resume as scheduled tomorrow morning."


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