A building at Algonquin College was evacuated Oct. 2 after an incident that left six students ill and prompted a visit by the fire department’s hazmat team to investigate.
Around 9 a.m., a student in the college’s Building V complained of feeling unwell and later fainted, according to Algonquin’s communications officer Phil Gaudreau. He said paramedics were called and treated the student on scene.
But later in the afternoon, Gaudreau said a second student in the building fainted and was taken to a hospital with a minor injury. Paramedics were called at 1:54 p.m. and the hazmat department was contacted at about 2:30 p.m. after six students admitted to feeling ill and nauseated, according to Gaudreau.
Paramedics on the scene assisted the five others who were unwell, he said.
By 3 p.m., 80 people were evacuated from the building, which serves as an animal health-care facility. They were quarantined outside while the building was investigated, according to Gaudreau.
Ottawa Fire Services’ public information officer Marc Messier confirmed the fire services were called to the school with a report that one person had fainted in Building V, which they treated as a paramedic call.
But when the paramedic reported back to the team about other students complaining of similar symptoms, part of the fire service’s hazmat team was called in due to the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning. The whole crew was brought in later that day, Messier said.
“We had multiple patients with the same symptoms, which unless there’s a bug going around, means that there is some sort of exposure,” Messier said.
He said hazmat has the monitoring equipment to test air quality and temperature that the fire services lacks, and fire services is no longer involved in handling the incident.
Algonquin was ordered to perform tests for the safety of students, staff, and animals involved, Gaudreau said. The hazmat crew did two checks of the building but found nothing suspicious after two hours, he said.
“We have since been doing checks of the incident since Wednesday and we have found nothing wrong. Everything has come up negative,” Gaudreau said.
He said the chair of the Police Public Safety and a member of the Animal Care Review Board visited the campus to ensure the safety of the students and the animals following the incident.
Gaudreau said Building V is new, and the school is still not sure what caused the illnesses at this moment and there is no further plan in place.
