Classes canceled as authorities uncertain how mercury contaminated Las Vegas junior high — VIDEO

While an Environmental Protection Agency official said at a town hall meeting Thursday night that the amount of mercury spilled at Johnson Junior High Schoolwas “unknown,” Las Vegas Fire Department crews have described the amount to be about five to 10 drops.

Las Vegas Fire spokesman Tim Szymanski compared it to the amount in a thermometer, though he never saw the mercury in person. However, he clarified that there was no indication as of Thursday afternoon the source of the mercury was a broken thermometer.

As hundreds of Johnson Junior High School students remained home Thursday, inspection crews combed “every classroom, every hallway, every closet” to determine the extent of mercury contamination at the west valley campus.

Federal and local officials remain uncertain as to who brought the mercury to Johnson, how much of it was in the school and how it got there. Police also are investigating into whether anyone might faces charges in the incident, which Wednesday morning caused more than 1,000 students and faculty members to be locked down and tested during a scare that lasted more than 16 hours.

The Clark County School District again cancelled classes Friday as crews continue cleaning Johnson to “contain further exposure” to mercury.

Randy Nattis, federal on-site coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency, said approximately 1,200 students, 100 school staff and 100 emergency responders were scanned and cleared of mercury contamination before they were allowed to go home.

Some families waited until nearly 5 a.m. Thursday before they were reunited with their children.

“Everyone went home safe,” Nattis said during a press conference at district headquarters later Thursday.

Nattis added that EPA crews started assessing the contamination of backpacks, shoes and other personal belongings that students left at the school, located at 7100 Ducharme Ave., near Buffalo and Alta drives. School staff will notify parents when the items have been cleared to leave the campus.

An undisclosed number of children received replacement clothing after mercury was detected, Nattis said. Others were washed or showered to remove any residue of mercury, which can be harmful to health — especially young children.

The liquid metal, according to Nattis, vaporizes in high heat, so crews at Johnson had blow dryers on hand to treat contaminated hair. During Thursday’s town hall meeting at Jacobson Elementary School, Nattis added that the warm temperature Wednesday also aided in this regard.

At the town hall meeting, some parents raised the concern that if backpacks and shoes were not allowed to go home with their children, how did they know that their cellphones were safe to use. Nattis said any kind of fiber will attract and pull mercury; metal, like on a cellphone, will not.

The EPA maintained a presence at Johnson on Thursday, trying to pinpoint where students and shoes might have tracked the substance into other areas of the campus.

“It’s unknown how far it’s actually spread, but we’re certain it has spread in some areas,” Nattis said.

According to Capt. Ken Young with the district’s police department, a teacher first reported to administrators the discovery of a “substance” during a school assembly about 11 a.m.

Emergency responders soon arrived on campus and confirmed it was mercury, Young said. A total of nine students and three administrators were initially exposed.

“We do not believe that there was a hoax,” Young said, responding to questions raised by media outlets late Wednesday.

“It was not a terrorist threat or anything like that,” he added. “At this point, it appears it was kids being kids playing with a substance. We are still in the investigation phase.”

Additionally, Syzmanski commended the patience and attitude of the students and staff within Johnson.

His department holds monthly emergency drills at every school, but the scope of Wednesday’s incident still presented significant hurdles.

Syzmanski said the department had encountered “nothing of this magnitude” before.

“This is the largest decontamination incident ever in the history of our department,” he said. “Almost 1,300 people were either screened or decontaminated in that amount of time.

“If this happened at a mall or a hospital or any place else it would take the same amount of time.”

Scheduling make-up days for lost instruction time Thursday and Friday is already being considered, a spokeswoman said.

Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Find @NatalieBruzda on Twitter. Contact Neal Morton at nmorton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Follow @nealtmorton on Twitter.