(The following story by Kimm R. Montone appeared on The Times-Tribune website on October 10.)
SCRANTON, Pa. — A day after an ammonia-like odor sickened 32 young cheerleaders at a North Scranton football field, officials are no closer to determining what it was or its origin. That has some parents fuming.
“They better find out what it was. There were a lot of sick kids here,” said Dana Woyshnar, a mother of a 13-year-old who was taken to a hospital after the incident happened Monday just before 7 p.m. “I don’t think they should let it go. There’s a reason everybody got sick.”
North Scranton Vikings President Dave Maconeghy also wants answers.
“What if this ammonia has any side effects? Will they have lung problems tomorrow or weeks from now?” he asked. “We want to know where it came from.”
Officials said Tuesday there are few leads.
“It was a brief occurrence, and nothing could be found one way or another,” said Robert M. Flanagan, emergency management coordinator for Lackawanna County Emergency Management Agency. “If we can’t find anything, there’s nothing we can do.”
Within 10 minutes of the initial call, first responders arrived at the North Scranton Vikings football field and started treating children as young as 9 years old for respiratory ailments, including shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
In all, 32 children and two adults were hospitalized. One child remained hospitalized Tuesday, but parents said she was released later in the day.
Initial accounts pointed blame toward a nearby stretch of railroad tracks, where two tankers carrying anhydrous ammonia passed an hour prior to Monday’s complaint. Emergency and railway officials were investigating that theory late Monday and Tuesday.
A Norfolk Southern Railroad Company spokesman confirmed Tuesday that a train carrying anhydrous ammonia – a product for industrial disinfectants and agricultural uses – passed through the area, although initial reports stated it was a Canadian Pacific Railway train.
Norfolk Southern’s Rudy Husband said the train was inspected by five different railroad companies and that there was no leaks or malfunctions.
“There was no indication that the train was the source of the problem,” he said.
At the practice field Tuesday evening, Mr. Maconeghy took a telephone call from a Norfolk Southern representative to schedule a meeting for today at 1 p.m. at the field.
Glancing over the dusty field, he pointed toward the locations where different cheering squads practiced.
The squad, situated at the southern end of the field, first noticed the fumes, he said.
Jackie Lishman attended her daughter’s practice that night. Her daughter was among the first cheerleaders affected. She described it as a terrible ammonia smell.
“It started subtle and was to the point where your eyes were burning,” she said. “I’d like to know. It’s not normal for an area to become overwhelmed by an odor that made people sick.”
A second squad at the 50 yard line felt ill shortly afterward, Mr. Maconeghy said.
And, a third squad of younger girls that were locate near the highway suffered the least.
For parents, official comments provided little assurance.
“If they don’t know what caused it, how can you tell if it’ll happen again,” Mrs. Lishman said.