Police: 8 Commack students taken to hospital after bus fills with smoke
Police responded to Sawmill Intermediate School in Commack Tuesday after a bus en route to the school filled with smoke. Credit: James Carbone
Eight Commack schoolchildren were taken to a hospital Tuesday morning after their school bus filled with smoke, prompting the driver to evacuate the 21 students aboard, police and school officials said.
Among the children transported to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, one student was treated for low oxygen and another was treated for abdominal pain. The other six students were evaluated. The remaining 13 children went home with their parents, Suffolk police said.
"At this time, to our knowledge, all students are doing well," Commack public school officials said in a statement.
The bus company, Baumann & Sons Inc., is working to identify the source of the problem, according to school officials.
The school bus was en route to Sawmill Intermediate School, in the area of Edscho Lane and Chassyl Road in Commack, when it began to fill with smoke. The bus driver pulled over and evacuated the students. The children, ages 8 to 11, were placed on another bus and driven to school.
Commack district officials said the students were brought to the school nurses for evaluation. Due to the number of students and the possibility of smoke exposure, the district called the Commack Fire Department for assistance. All parents were contacted by the school.
Commack Ambulance evaluated the students and took seven of them to the hospital. Another student was taken there by a parent, officials said.
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.
