Dinwiddie outlines events leading to classroom fire last week that burned students, teacher
DINWIDDIE — One week after a fire inside a Dinwiddie High School chemistry classroom sent three students and a teacher to the hospital, the school system's superintendent said there was no evidence that any safety equipment was being used during an experiment that sparked the fire.
"We have checklists, and there is a self-assessment checklist that the teacher is supposed to follow," Dr. Kari Weston told reporters Wednesday at the county's Emergency Operations Center. "For this specific incident, the students reported that there was no protective equipment that was worn during the demonstration,"
When asked further why no goggles or gloves were used, Weston said, "That will be part of our investigation as to why it was not being used in this particular demonstration."
Three students were taken to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, including one who was airlifted, after an experiment gone wrong touched off the Oct. 12 fire in the second-floor classroom, and a fourth one was reported hurt. A science teacher was also injured in the fire, and was taken to Bon Secours Southside Medical Center in Petersburg for treatment.
More:Four people, including three students, hurt in Dinwiddie High chemistry classroom fire
Weston said two of the students have been released from the hospital, but the third is expected to remain hospitalized "for some time."
"All of these young people are amazing, but they have a very, very long recovery ahead of them," she added.
The county is not releasing the names or ages of the injured students and would not confirm if the teacher hurt was the one performing the experiment. However, that teacher performing the experiment was identified as William Massello, an 18-year educator and the school's only chemistry teacher. Weston said Massello is "on leave" pending the system's investigation but would not say if that was adminstrative or not.
Weston said the system has spoken with most of the students in the classroom, but has yet to talk to any of the hospitalized students or Massello.
Dinwiddie Fire Chief Dennis Hale said the fire happened as Massello was pouring methanol from one beaker into another. That second beaker contained methanol used in a previous demonstration that went off without a hitch.
"The fire travelled diagnolly across the front of the classroom approximately 10 feet until it reached the adjacent wall of the classroom," Hale said. The three students injured were in the path of that fire, known as "flame-jetting."
There were 19 students inside the classroom. Massello, the instructor, was doing the experiment on a platform at the front of the room.
Weston said the experiment was one that falls in line with state Department of Education guidelines and that the use of methanol "is an acceptable chemical to be found in the chemistry classroom."
The superintendent confirmed that Massello has a private YouTube account where he records lessons and experiments for students either absent from the classroom or for further follow-up. There was a demonstration of the experiment in question on the site, but it was reportedly taken down about 12 hours after the fire broke out. Weston said she did not know why it was removed.
Weston called the incident "horrific" and one "that should never take place in any school, any classroom." Future experiments are being limited to virtual while the system continues its investigation. Massello's classroom has been cleaned since the fire broke out, but it currently is not in use.
Even though the fire broke out, Weston said she remains convinced that the schools are safe for students, and she tried to reassure parents of that.
"Our teachers are trained, our teachers understand safety protocols," she said. "Our teachers come to school every day and do amazing things for our young people. And so do we have work to do? Yes, and we're going to uncover that work is."
The superintendent said parents "have my word that we're going to put things in place to make sure that something like this never happens again."
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Va. high school fire details released a week after blaze hurt 5 people
