Waimea, HI - 5/22/2001

Associated Press

Chemical Spill Prompts Closure of Two Hawaii Schools

Location		Date of Incident
Waimea, HI, United States		5/21/2001- 9:40 AM
Date of Report Update
5/22/2001 - 10:56 AM
Incident Types	Location Types
- Release to Environment	Fixed Facility
Evacuations	Injuries	Fatalities
1000 (Estimate)	None	None
Chemicals Involved
- Copper disulfate - Hydrochloric acid - Nitric acid - Salt peter - Sulfuric Acid
Description or Latest Development
----- Information Added: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 10:56 AM ----- Students at two adjoining Big Island schools were evacuated Monday after a chemical spill was reported at their campus. Students at Waimea Elementary and Middle schools were forced to evacuate their classrooms at 9:40 a.m. and wait at a nearby field, upwind from the spill, for parents to pick them up, school officials said. A Hawaii County Fire Department hazardous materials team was called to contain and clean up the spill. Deputy Hawaii District Superintendent Alvin Rho said vandals broke into a science classroom over the weekend and mixed some chemicals. Assistant Fire Chief Lloyd Natsu said the chemicals were thrown around in a class. No injuries were reported and none of the 1,000 students was believed to have been exposed to the chemicals, Rho said. Fire officials identified the chemicals as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, copper disulfate and salt peter.
Sources (* indicates the original source)		Source Details
Media - Associated Press *		05/21/01 2031 EDT