Hazmat crews dispatched to San Jose school after students sickened by elevated carbon dioxide levels
A San Jose Fire Department hazardous materials team responded to a San Jose middle school classroom after students reported being overcome by an unknown substance that was later determined to be elevated levels of carbon dioxide.
The San Jose Fire Department said crews were at Sunrise Middle School on the 1100 block of E Julian St. in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood. In a post on the X social media platform, the fire department said there were reports of multiple patients with difficulty breathing.
The fire department said traffic on E Julian St. was impacted and urged people to avoid the area.
A subsequent post on X said that most patients' symptoms were resolving and that two juvenile patients were being taken to a hospital for further evaluation. The Fire Department's HazMat team was "actively investigating conditions in classroom," the follow-up post said.
A check of airborne contaminants came back negative except for carbon dioxide and the Fire Department said on X that the "source of CO2 has been removed and levels restored to normal."
It was not specified what was the source of the carbon dioxide.
Classes resumed at the school and traffic had reopened as of 11 a.m., the department said.
