Beef dinner blamed for carbon monoxide scare at Rhode Island school

BARRINGTON, R.I. (AP) — Authorities say a student’s beef dinner caused a carbon monoxide scare at a Rhode Island boarding school.

The Barrington Fire Department says they responded to St. Andrews School around 6 p.m. Thursday after a carbon monoxide alarm went off.

Authorities say students were evacuated, and the source was traced to a single dorm room. Investigators couldn’t find a cause at first, as there was no gas or wood-burning elements in the building.

A student then told officials he had been heating a “hotpot” his parents sent him from another country.

Fire Capt. Scott Carroll says their carbon monoxide meters registered extremely high levels of the gas when placed near the dish.

Carroll says the room and dorm were ventilated, and no students were sickened.