Fort Washakie, WY – Fort Washakie Fire and Fremont County Ambulance responded this morning to an odd case of carbon monoxide poisoning this morning at the Fort Washakie School.
Fire Chief Kenneth Ferris said his firefighters were called to the school’s gym around 10 a.m. this morning for a report of a possible gas leak. The middle school girls basketball team was practicing and several of them started feeling light-headed, which led to the call. According to radio traffic, one of them passed out.
Ultimately four individuals were transported to the hospital for treatment, and based on radio traffic Fremont County EMS Division Supervisor Todd Smith said the exposures appeared to be minor. Smith commended the quick action of Wind River Police Officers who began venting the gym as soon as they arrived.
Using their gas detection meters, the firefighters combed the school for possible gas leaks while the girls were being treated by EMS. However, the two-hour search turned up zero sources of gas leaks, Ferris said. It was kind of weird, he said.
There are a couple theories as to how the gas exposure occurred; a school bus exhaust pipe could have been too close to an intake for the school’s air system or a vent somewhere might have been blocked by snow. Ferris said the school was encouraged to contact the gas company and to continue to research how this might have happened. School officials were not readily available for comment.
Needless to say, basketball practice was cancelled for the day.