Gas leak sends Seattle students to hospital

SEATTLE – Twenty-one teenagers and their teacher complained of dizziness Friday after a natural gas leak at the Seattle Center’s Center House, the Seattle Fire Department said.

Five students were taken to local hospitals as a precaution, but the other students and their teacher were OK, said Patti Spencer, a Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman.

Fire Capt. Reba Gonzales said the Fire Department believes one of the teens had turned on the gas in a chemistry classroom that was being used for a math class at the alternative high school that operates in the Center House.

“The teacher hit the emergency shutoff and ventilated the room and got all the students out,” Gonzales said.

“I do not have any information about why the gas leak occurred,” Spencer said in response to the suggestion that a student turned on the gas.

She said the teacher noticed the leak and that it did not affect any other classrooms.

The second-floor room cleared of fumes about a half hour after the problem was reported, shortly after 10 a.m. Parents of students who were in the affected classroom were called and given the option to take their children home early, Spencer said.

The Center School shares space at the building, a former armory, with a food court, offices and a children’s museum.