{"id":130585,"date":"2026-01-24T19:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/130585\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T19:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:06:10","slug":"gas-scare-at-florida-private-school-causes-panic-sending-22-kids-to-the-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/130585\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas scare at Florida private school causes panic, sending 22 kids to the hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More than 20 students were rushed to the hospital after carbon monoxide alarms blared at a Florida middle school \u2014 triggering a full evacuation and a massive emergency response.<\/p>\n<p>Fire trucks, police and ambulances swarmed Cypress Junction Montessori in Winter Haven after the detectors alerted them Friday, according to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/winterhavenpublicsafety\/posts\/reported-gas-leak-causes-cypress-junction-montessori-evacuation-this-morning-at-\/1321034463387371\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> Winter Haven Public Safety Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>All students and staff were outside when authorities arrived.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38274520\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/23-students-evaluated-winter-haven-119585846.jpg\" alt=\"people leaving a building as seen from above during an evac for carbon monoxide\" class=\"wp-image-38274520\"  \/>Authorities rushed 22 students to the hospital after a carbon monoxide scare at Cypress Junction Montessori in Winter Haven, Fla. FOX 13<\/p>\n<p>Fire crews immediately ensured the gas was shut off, and then evaluated the building. Police and fire officials concluded there was no gas leak inside the school \u2014 the alarms were triggered by something detected outside the building.<\/p>\n<p>As the panic unfolded, medical professionals checked students at the scene. <\/p>\n<p>Officials said students who complained of any sort of distress were immediately evaluated, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/carbon-monoxide-leak-sends-14-students-hospital-winter-haven-police\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to Fox 13 Tampa Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Eleven students were taken by ambulance and another 11 by bus as a precaution while worried parents watched the chaos unfold, the Winter Haven Fire Department said.<\/p>\n<p>Low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning can cause headaches, fatigue and poor focus, while high concentrations can lead to rapid breathing, confusion, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, dizziness, and even death.<\/p>\n<p>Sisters Luna and Coral Brooks, from the elementary school building, said they were worried. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38274519\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/23-students-evaluated-winter-haven-119585847.jpg\" alt=\"evac for carbon monoxide at florida school\" class=\"wp-image-38274519\"  \/>Alarms were triggered by something detected outside the building. FOX 13<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were also a lot of police and we were also about to have a fire drill so there was a lot going on. Everybody was OK. <\/p>\n<p>But there was a gas that is bad, it was in the other building,\u201d Luna <a href=\"https:\/\/baynews9.com\/fl\/tampa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">told Spectrum Bay News 9<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As a precaution, ventilators were brought in, air quality was checked and cleared, and authorities said everyone was OK.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the school\u2019s principal, Dr. Kris Newman-Lake, had been in constant contact with worried parents, emailing updates all day.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the scare rattled families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s never a good day when you see your kids\u2019 school on the news with fire trucks and police cars everywhere,\u201d Luna and Coral\u2019s father, Phillip Brooks, told the Fox affiliate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 20 students were rushed to the hospital after carbon monoxide alarms blared at a Florida middle&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29771,6576,28,30,29,531,3384,4278],"class_list":{"0":"post-130585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-carbon-monoxide","9":"tag-evacuations","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-school","14":"tag-students","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}