Fumes Send 60 Students to Hospitals : School: Fireworks set off in bathroom may have filtered through air vents, officials say. Many cases may be psychosomatic.

LANCASTER —  More than 60 elementary school students were rushed to local hospitals Monday complaining of nausea from fumes blamed on fireworks set off in the boys’ bathroom, but fire officials reckoned that many of the children were suffering from psychosomatic pains.

Los Angeles County firefighters and a hazardous materials crew were called to Lincoln Elementary School when administrators reported that students were complaining of stomachaches, burning in their noses and throats, and chest pains from fumes coming out of air-conditioning ducts.

County Fire Inspector Lee Gregory said the fumes apparently came from fireworks set off in a bathroom with air-conditioning vents connected to some classrooms. No spent fireworks debris was found, but the remains may have been flushed down a toilet, authorities said.

One of the students did turn over to the principal an inch-thick firecracker called a “ground bloom,” saying he found it near the area of the boys’ bathroom.

The incident may have begun when some children who were unusually sensitive, because of asthma or allergies or because they sat very close to the vents, began feeling the effects of the fumes, and that scared the other children, said Fire Capt. Ronald Hayton.

“We have seen this many times before,” he said. “There is a hysteria involved--one person gets ill, then the other psychosomatically starts to feel sick too.

“We are dealing with young kids here,” said Hayton. “If they see their friends getting sick, it hurts their feelings and then they feel genuinely sick too.”

Before firefighters arrived, an announcement to evacuate the school in the 44000 block of 15th Street East came over the public-address system, which several children said sent them and their classmates running from the building.

“I was in the science lab and everybody just started running out of the school,” said 8-year-old Charles Nero, who is in the third grade. “I just ran outside and then my head started hurting and I couldn’t breathe very well.”

Sixth-grader Eric Tores, 11, was one of the children most seriously affected by the fumes. Eric said he passed out after he stuck his head into the bathroom right before recess ended and smelled the fumes.

“I took a strong whiff and then I went back out and I felt fine,” Eric explained. But by the time he lined up with classmates to go back into the classroom, “I started falling and people had to carry me. Then I started feeling sleepy and I started having trouble breathing.”

Eric was taken to Desert Palms Community Hospital, where he was given an oxygen tank to ease his breathing.

Ten children were transported by ambulance and 52 others were loaded onto a bus and taken to Desert Palms, Lancaster Community Hospital and Antelope Valley Hospital.

At Antelope Valley Hospital, eight children were admitted to the emergency room, where they were treated and released for stomachaches and chest pains, according to hospital spokesman Gary Cothran.

Desert Palms Hospital spokeswoman Kathy McCain said about 10 students complaining of a burning sensation in their throats and coughing were treated there and released. Five of the most seriously affected children were taken to Lancaster Community Hospital, where they were given oxygen and released, said hospital spokeswoman Carol Fryer.

Lincoln School Principal Alyce Ellis said that “if I find out who the student was (who set off fireworks), they will be expelled.”

A school assembly will be held today to discuss the matter, she said.