DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- A Dinwiddie High School senior said she is traumatized after seeing her classmates catch on fire during a chemistry demonstration on Wednesday.
School officials said the incident, which some students described as an explosion and fire, occurred during a classroom experiment. Officials said the emergency happened Wednesday morning on the second floor of the high school.
Three students and a teacher were treated and brought to VCU Medical Center. One additional student was treated and released on the scene.
RELATED: Students describe 'utter chaos' after chemistry class 'explosion'
Senior Beth Piland watched it all happen in her second-period chemistry class. She said her teacher was having students take notes while he was demonstrating some chemical reactions.
Piland said the second demonstration is when everything started to go wrong.
She said that as the teacher was performing the demonstration, an explosion happened and the fire spread onto some of the first and second rows of students.
"I saw my friends start burning," Piland said.
She said some students' faces and other body parts caught fire and they were screaming. She said her teacher then ran over to try to help put the fire on the students out.
“I couldn’t see their faces, they were faced down on the ground. I was scared and I was thinking oh, are they dead? Are they going to be okay?” Piland said.
As all this was happening, she said a student pulled the fire alarm, prompting a response from officials. A medical helicopter transported one student while ambulances transported two more students and the teacher, Dinwiddie Fire and EMS officials said.
Piland said the extent of some of her friend's injuries was significant.
"His hair was crispy. His skin was peeling and his lip was busted," Piland said.
The student said she is now afraid to go back into the classroom, saying the entire experience traumatized her. She is left struggling with it all, praying for her friends who are recovering.
“Today has been a really hard day for us. Emotionally, I’m not okay,” Piland said.
The Dinwiddie Sheriff's Office, Fire EMS and the State Fire Marshal’s Office are currently investigating what led up to the incident. The school district has not confirmed the identification of the teacher or answered CBS 6’s questions about if the demonstration performed was approved.
Piland remains firm that it was important for people to know what happened in the classroom on Wednesday.
“People are saying it wasn’t bad and students didn’t get hurt but I saw it with my own eyes. My friends were on fire,” Piland said.
The family of at least one of the injured students told CBS 6 that he will remain hospitalized until at least Friday. They said they are just grateful that he is alive.
As of Wednesday night, officials have not provided an update about the other students and the teacher who were injured.
