Dear Parents and Guardians,

The following is the report provided to the school from the Fire Department. Following the report is a copy of the email I received from Missoula Regional Hazmat.

Responded to Trout Creek School in reference to chemical smell in the main building.

Dispatch advised that 12 children were affected with symptoms of nausea, difficulty

breathing, headaches etc. and all students had been evacuated to the gymnasium. While

enroute R. Jones requested additional ambulances to the scene due to the large number of

possible patients. Upon arrival, R. Jones established command. A primary investigative

search was performed with CO detectors with no activations of the monitors. EMS established

a triage sector inside the gymnasium, where all the patients had been moved prior to our

arrival. EMS sector advised that there were 6 adults also affected. Initially all patients

were exhibiting signs and symptoms of CO poisoning. Talking with the Dean of Students and

her maintenance staff we determined that there was no fueled or combustion generating

equipment in the building. All heating and appliances were electric. She also stated that

there had not been any reported chemical spills in the building or mixing of chemicals. She

did state that there has been a continuing smell of sewage throughout the building. They

had their sewage grinders replaced this past summer. I requested the Missoula Regional

Hazmat Team to respond with some additional monitors to assist us with the investigation. While

we waited for the Hazmat team to arrive, 8 patients were either transported or went POV to

Clark Fork Valley Hospital. The rest were picked up by parents. Also having further

discussions with the Dean of Students, she stated that due to the sewage smell the plumber

had told them to pour vinegar or bleach down the traps to help with the smell. They ran out

of vinegar and switched to chlorine bleach. The last time this was done was on Monday or

Tuesday of the previous week. Once the hazmat team arrived, they did another investigative

search with five gas monitors. They did not pick up any readings on their monitors. We

decided to have a representative from Cabinet Mountain Propane come to the scene with a

combustible gas monitor to monitor for any combustible gases in the building. During his

investigation, his monitor alarmed on three different locations. Kitchen sink drain, mop

bucket station drain, and fire sprinkler drain. He was getting high levels of some type of

combustible gas. All of these drains were in the basement and presumed all drain to the

septic system. We could not definitively pinpoint the exact cause of this incident, but

between the vinegar/chlorine mix and the combustible gas emissions (including methane, and

hydrogen sulfide) from the floor drains, either one of these by themselves or together could

possibly have been the culprit. We did advise the Dean to have a plumber come out and

inspect and scope all the roof vents for their septic system to see if there were any

blockages that would cause the sewer gases to build up and release from the floor drains.

All personnel released from the scene and command terminated. Note: As of 02/21/2025, the

plumber did not detect any blockages in the plumbing system, and the Missoula Regional

Hazmat Team was going to return to the school to monitor for the continued presence of

combustible gases.

TCRFD Equipment on scene: E133 and E138

TCRFD Personnel: R. Jones, J. Gubel, J. Meuchel, W.Achatz, D.Anderson

Hello, as of 11:30 am on February 21st, the Missoula regional hazmat team found normal readings on our 5 gas meters inside the Trout Creek School.  Take care,

Jason Hedahl

The fire department and hazmat told us what needed to be done to remediate the problem. Silvertip Plumbing took care of everything they said to do. Additionally, we had our outdoor septic system emptied, even though it had been emptied this past summer.

We have purchased a tester that will monitor and alert us of a problem in the future. We will place one in the kitchen, mechanical room, and the multipurpose room.

1. Drained the 250 gallon septic tank in the maintenance room downstairs on Wednesday and Thursday.

2. Flushed the septic tank for three hours on Wednesday and two hours on Thursday.

3. Sealed the tank with sealant as well as Flex-seal paint.

4. Decommissioned the drain for the fire suppression system and sealed it.

5. The fire suppression overflow has been re-routed to the mop sink.

6. All vents were smoke tested and visually inspected for obstructions. No obstructions were

    found.

Last week, the staff and students did exactly what they were taught to do. The emergency responders did an amazing job and everyone felt well cared for. Going forward, we expect to have an uneventful school year.  We will need to make up 75% of the hours we lost last week. Once we have board approval of those dates, we will let you know.

Thank you,

Kimberly Johnson

Dean of Students

23-24 Activities Schedule

Trout Creek School

Safe Return & Continuity of Services Plan

Trout Creek School will begin the school year on August 29, 2022. A school calendar has been developed and the school day will follow a normal schedule.

School Time Schedule:

Monday through Thursday 8:00am – 3:30pm

Fridays (earlier release) 8:00am-12:45pm

The school will continue to operate with a full-time custodian and a part-time custodian. Cleaning occurs after school, in the morning, and throughout the day as needed. We continue to use the sanitizing spray that has been used for the past 3 years. Rooms are cleaned daily. Floors are swept and mopped daily. Restrooms are cleaned and sanitized daily. Carpets and rugs are vacuumed daily.

The school continues to employ a part-time nurse. Temperatures of students are checked as needed.

Parents are reminded to keep their student home if they are not feeling well. The school also asks that students be fever free for 24 hours (from the time the fever broke) before returning to school.

Trout Creek School continues to remain open and available to our students, staff, volunteers, and visitors.

This is the first update to the original plan.

June 10, 2022