Evacuations Lifted After Chlorine Leak Sends Some To Hospital

DENVER (CBS4) - A hazardous materials leak at or near a Denver business late Friday morning led to the evacuation of an area that included a school. One student and seven other people were transported to the hospital. The issue was a chlorine leak, according to authorities.

The source of the leak was apparently at the following address: 11250 East 40th Avenue. That's on the south side of Interstate 70.

"The business had safety systems in place that eliminated this from becoming catastrophic," said Greg Pixley, spokesperson for Denver Fire.

Seven people were transported from the chlorine leak site.

"The business had safety systems in place that eliminated this from becoming catastrophic," said Greg Pixley, spokesperson for Denver Fire.

A school on the other side of I-70, in the city's Montbello neighborhood, was evacuated because of the situation, and the situation affected other schools as well.

One student was taken to the hospital from the school, while others were evaluated on scene.

"You know how they say natural gas smells like rotten eggs? It was worse," said Jose Zavala, a student at the school. "Everyone got out [of the building] right away, though."

While Denver Fire was investigating the issues at the business, and the school as separate incidences, they would not rule out the possibility that the two were related.

"That scenario is likely, but until we get further in to talking those who were effected, we are not going to know exactly," Pixley said. "We were lucky that we had limited injuries with this."

By 12:10 p.m. all schools were back to normal, according to Denver Public Schools.

In:
• Montbello