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Shelley Osterloh Reporting Back-to-school was short lived at a middle school in Vernal that's been closed for two days because of a Mercury spill. Clean up will continue all weekend, but it's going well and health officials anticipate opening the school on Monday.
The 800 students, teachers and staff were evacuated yesterday morning when health officials found a puddle of mercury on the sidewalk outside the school. It was late last night when a team of EPA experts from Denver confirmed what local health officials had feared, there were dangerously high levels of Mercury vapor in the school. It was especially strong down a hallway where students enter the school and the doorway to the cafeteria kitchen.
So all night long the school was open and fans tried to clear the air. This morning hazardous waste removal team donned their protective gear and went into to clean up. They threw away carpets and vacuumed up the beads of the liquid metal. They'll focus a lot of special cleaning on the kitchen entry way.
Joseph Shaffer, Director Tri-County Health Dept.: "Food was left out the cooks were told to leave so food will be destroyed. Of course we are going to err on the side of caution, so if there is any doubt at all we will destroy food. But again, it's all contained. We are very fortunate it wasn't a greater amount and of course the reponse was excellent."
There's still no word on how it got there, but because the dumpster also had high levels of the mercury, officials say it is likely someone tried to dispose of it and it somehow spilled and tracked the mercury through the school.
If you have any old thermometers or vials of the mercury you can drop it off at any county health department and they'll dispose of it safely.
