Nearly 200 young musicians were forced to flee a Perthshire secondary school after a chemical spill sparked a dramatic evacuation.
Emergency services were scrambled to the city’s St John’s Roman Catholic Academy after a staff member accidently tipped over a litre of a hazardous formaldehyde solution.
The North Inch Community Campus, where the school is based, was closed off by police for several hours on Thursday evening while firefighters in protective gear checked out the damage.
The accident happened in the school’s science lab just after 6pm. Two cleaners who attempted to mop up the spill were overcome by fumes and had to be taken by ambulance to Perth Royal Infirmary as a precaution.
At that time, around 180 musicians of the Perth and Kinross Central Music Group Ensembles had gathered for their first meeting of the year in the campus music room.
Allan Young, coordinator of instrumental instruction, said: “There was no panic, we were just asked to leave as quickly as possible.
“It all went fantastically well though. The only issue we now have to deal with is getting all the abandoned instruments back to their owners.
“Everyone had to get out immediately so we just had to leave everything behind. Now we have to make arrangements for parents and students to come back and collect their instruments.”
The accident came at the end of a hugely busy day for fire crews, who were stretched to their limits with flooding incidents across Tayside.
Three fire crews from Perth and Dunkeld stayed at the school until about 10pm. Firefighters used breathing apparatus and gas protection suits to assess the incident and make the area safe.
Station Manager Bob Rearie, who was at the scene, said: “We arrived to find a container had been knocked over and that a chemical that we established was formalin had produced some fumes.
“We evacuated the premises as a precaution, put a cordon in place and made sure everyone was accounted for.”
He added: “Two cleaners had attempted to clean up the spill and were overcome with the fumes. They were checked over at the scene by ambulance personnel but did not require hospital treatment.
“The area has been made safe and a cordon will remain at the premises until the area is cleaned and the materials removed.
“The leak did not affect the environment and there was no risk to members of the public.”
The chemical at the centre of the incident was Formalin, a strong formaldehyde solution. Exposure can cause irritation to eyes, nose, throat and the respiratory system.
A Perth and Kinross Council confirmed that the incident had been dealt with by emergency crews and the school re-opened on Friday morning.