Ecole des Decouvreurs in LaSalle will reopen Wednesday, two days after carbon monoxide poisoning led to dozens of students and staff members becoming ill.

Tests showed the school has extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in it. Montreal firefighters said that when they entered Ecole des Decouvreurs on Monday, the school's hallways had CO levels of 175 parts per million, while the school's furnace room was at 900 ppm.

A carbon monoxide concentration of 35 ppm is enough to evacuate a building because it is unsafe.

It resulted in an evacuated of the school Monday when 43 people, mostly students aged six to 13, were treated in hospitalsdue to the carbon monoxide leak.

About nine people had fallen unconscious, while others vomited, felt nauseated, or were dizzy.

On Tuesday almost everyone had been sent home except for one child who had been admitted to hospital for longer-term care, while two other children who arrived in emergency rooms overnight were being kept for observation.

The school, which houses 270 students, was evacuated Monday and classes were cancelled on Tuesday while the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board began retesting heating systems and carbon monoxide detectors.

Ten children had to be treated in hyperbaric chambers to increase the level of oxygen in their bodies, something emergency pediatric physician and toxicologist Dominic Chalut calls extremely uncommon.

“This is what we call ‘diving a patient.’ They’re in a small room where the air pressure is increased, and it speeds up the elimination of carbon dioxide from your body. It's usually done for a few hours,” he said.

There is research to suggest carbon monoxide poison can have lasting effects.

“Neuro deficits in terms of memory and concentration, but it remains to be proven more, but that's why we ‘dived the patient’ yesterday,” said Chalut.

 

Carbon monoxide detectors not required in Quebec schools

According to Quebec's building code it is recommended, although not obligatory, for buildings that rely on oil, natural gas, or wood heating to have carbon monoxide detectors.

Ecole des Decouvreurs had a carbon monoxide detector which was inspected in October, but it appears it failed to work on Monday.

The school board's chair, Diane Lamarche-Venne, said that all schools administered by Marguerite-Bourgeoys would also be examined, although she could not say how long such an examination would take.

 

Michael Cohen, spokesperson for the English Montreal School Board, said about 60 of the board's buildings have gas detection systems which are examined twice a year.

"We have different companies that are hired to do the inspections. So one is done during the summer break, July and August, where all the buildings have all their different types of detectors inspected. And then this time of year right now is the next round where the inspections are going to take place," said Cohen.

"The only ones that we have in our schools that are required by the building code, so where it's necessary we have them," said Cohen.

Carbon monoxide is a colourless and odourless gas that can be formed when something does not burn completely, usually because there is not enough oxygen present.

In high enough concentrations it is toxic to humans and other animals that breathe oxygen and rely on hemoglobin.