LIHU’E — The state Department of Agriculture has begun an investigation into a herbicide spill near King Kaumuali’i School Tuesday that forced the evacuation of 850 students and sent 52 of them to Wilcox Hospital for treatment. The Kauai Fire
LIHU’E — The state Department of Agriculture has begun an investigation into a
herbicide spill near King Kaumuali’i School Tuesday that forced the evacuation
of 850 students and sent 52 of them to Wilcox Hospital for treatment.
The
Kauai Fire Department has determined that either Amfac Sugar workers or a
contractor for Amfac flushed pendimethalin, which was apparently mixed with
water, from a tank on a truck onto a cane haul road about 600 yards north of
the school.
On Wednesday, school officials sent notes home with students
saying that Amfac Sugar will cover medical bills incurred by students treated
at Wilcox as a result of the incident.
Agriculture department official
Glenn Sahara, who is based on the Big Island, arrived on Kaua’i Wednesday where
he was briefed by Department of Health officials on the spill.
Sahara took
over the investigation because the DOA has jurisdiction over chemical spills
such as this one. Any enforcement action will come from the agriculture
department, said Patrick Johnston, DOH public information officer.
Sahara
was expected to talk with employees of Murrayair, which conducts aerial
spraying for Amfac, said Rod Yama, a state health department official on
Kaua’i.
Sahara declined to comment on the investigation, but said a report
will be forthcoming. Officials from DOA and DOH and representatives from Amfac
met during the day.
The work crew apparently flushed the contents out of
the tank while preparing to fill the tank with another chemical, the Kaua’i
Fire Department said.
The spill came after a helicopter finished spraying
Amfac fields mauka of Lihu’e and those near the Wailua Falls.
“This is the
first time we have encountered it,” Yama said.
“LP (a subsidiary of
Amfac) said it is not the standard practice (to dump chemicals on the ground
after a spraying operation).”
The chemical, which goes by the trade name of
Prowl, is slightly toxic when ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
It is highly toxic to fish.
The fumes floated downwind to the school and
caused students to become teary-eyed and to complain of stomach pains.
Fifty-two students from King Kaumuali’i were treated by American Medical
Response paramedics and Wilcox Hospital personnel and were released.
During the evacuation, teachers walked 850 students to a park upwind from
the fumes. The students were later bused to the Kaua’i War Memorial Convention
Hall in Lihu’e where they were picked up by their parents.
On Tuesday
afternoon, Amfac crews cleaned up the 75-foot swath of the herbicide found by
firefighters.
The Amfac workers collected the residue and apparently put
it in a sump at a Amfac chemical plant near the site of the spill, Yama
said.
