Chattanooga firefighters responded to a middle school for a possible mercury exposure before crews determined the broken thermometer contained alcohol

By Mason Edwards
Chattanooga Times Free Press

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Fourteen students and two teachers were taken to a hospital as a precaution Wednesday after a thermometer broke at Dalewood Middle School, prompting a hazmat response.

Officials treated the incident as a possible mercury exposure until responders determined the thermometer was alcohol-based, according to a Chattanooga Fire Department press release. No students or staff were harmed.

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Emergency crews responded Wednesday morning to 1300 Shallowford Road after a thermometer was dropped during a routine science lab experiment, the release said.

Until the leaked substance could be identified, officials treated the incident as a possible exposure. The building’s heating and air conditioning was shut down, and the rest of the student body was dismissed, the release said.

Marion Environmental responded to the school to handle the cleanup and confirmed the thermometer was not mercury-based, the release said.

High levels of mercury exposure can harm peoples’ internal organs and immune systems regardless of age, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mercury has been used in older thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs and some electrical switches.

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