ATLANTA (AP) — Potentially lethal carbon monoxide levels in an Atlanta elementary school sent 42 students and six adults to hospitals Monday amid the evacuation of about 500 students, authorities said.

A teacher and a cafeteria worker were among patients treated after firefighters responded to Finch Elementary School shortly after 8 a.m., Atlanta fire Capt. Marian McDaniel told The Associated Press.

Firefighters were initially told that people were unconscious at the school, but none were when fire crews arrived. All of the patients were conscious and alert as they were being taken to hospitals, McDaniel said.

Video on WSB-TV showed rescue crews carrying young children strapped to gurneys with oxygen masks on their faces.

Firefighters detected high and unsafe levels of carbon monoxide near a furnace at the school, which is on the city's southwest side, McDaniel said. She called the reading — 1,700 parts per million — extremely high.

"It was one of the highest we've seen," she said.
[link to news.yahoo.com]