4 Hurt, Including Teacher, in Chemistry Blast

CAMARILLO —  An explosion in a high school chemistry class Thursday sent one student to the hospital with second-degree burns and injured three other people, including a teacher.

The explosion occurred about 2:15 p.m. at Cornerstone Christian School as several students gathered to participate in a lab experiment with chemistry teacher Elise Batteiger, said Fire Department spokesman Joe Luna. There was a blowup when Batteiger tried to pour nitric acid from one glass beaker to another, he said.

An investigation is underway, but Luna said it appears that the nitric acid mixed with some other substance to trigger the explosion.

“Something went horribly wrong,” he said.

The most seriously wounded student, a 15-year-old girl who was not identified, was taken to St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo with second-degree burns, Luna said.

A nursing supervisor said late Thursday that the girl was treated and released.

Batteiger, a Camarillo resident, sustained minor burns on her right arm but did not require hospitalization, Luna said. Bianca Recharte, 14, and one other student who was not identified, were seen briefly in the hospital before being released into the custody of their parents.

Firefighters evacuated the school’s 580 students, and a hazardous-materials team cleaned up the small chemical spill, which was confined to an upstairs classroom at the two-story building on Arneill Road.

School Supt. Lory Selby said all chemicals in the class have been removed for inspection by the Fire Department. She said classes would resume today and that she expected Batteiger would be back to teach.

Tanya Roberts, 15, was in the back of the class when the explosion occurred. She said she heard a bang and saw a large gas cloud expand overhead. Most of the nearly 40 students in the class bolted for the doors, but a few stayed behind to escort the injured out, Tanya said.

“I saw this huge cloud coming toward us and everyone was running out of the class,” she said. “It was kind of like a movie.”

Emergency workers examined at least 30 students in the class, checking for breathing problems and gas burns, said Bob Scott, a paramedic with American Medical Response. Paramedics treated some for eye irritation and used a hose in the back of the school to spray water on the injured students.

Batteiger’s parents and a sister rushed to the school shortly after the incident. They said Batteiger has lived in Camarillo her whole life, except for the time she spent studying microbiology at the University of Evansville in Indiana.

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Staff writer Matt Surman contributed to this report.