Chlorine Leak disinfects, injures 37
27 March 2008
No CommentST. CLOUD - Fifteen people were hospitalized Wednesday after a chlorine gas leak in the Rocori High School swimming pool sent a physical education class to area hospitals. The cause of the leak, which prompted a strong emergency response from health and public safety officials to treat the 37 victims, was under investigation and not fully clear late Wednesday.
“Quite honestly, we’re really baffled,” said Scott Staska, superintendent of the Rocori School District. Of 33 people treated at St. Cloud Hospital, 15 were kept overnight “as a precaution,” said Dr. Tom Schrup. The rest, including four students taken to the hospital in Paynesville, Minn., were treated and released. The patients had symptoms such as coughing or burning eyes and nasal passages, Schrup said.
No one was seriously ill, required mechanical ventilation or was expected to have long-term symptoms. “It’s becoming clear that most people here were very minimally affected,” Schrup said. At 1:40 p.m. a student had trouble breathing and the number of victims grew quickly, said Stearns County Chief Deputy Bruce Bechtold.
Students were swimming laps when “a big vapor cloud” emerged from vents in the pool, said Cold Spring Mayor Doug Schmitz, who responded to the school in his role as assistant fire chief. Before the class, the school’s custodial staff had shut off the pool’s water to work on a water line, Staska said. He said the work was routine, didn’t involve chlorine and the water was back on before class.
A state chemical assessment team based in St. Cloud tested the air at 3:09 p.m. and found no trace of chlorine or other chemicals, said Greg Newinski, the team’s battalion chief. “We’re a little perplexed,” he said. “But two hours had passed since the exposure, and they’ve got a ventilation system running, so it could be that things dissipated.” By 4 p.m., officials pronounced the school safe, and students and faculty were allowed back into the building. Although “every agency we’ve talked to says the pool is safe,” Staska said, the district cancelled Wednesday night swim classes. Although the school will open as usual this morning, the pool will remain closed.
Wow! These kids are lucky as chlorine can be some very volatile stuff. They used it as poison in world wars. Inhaling enough can kill you! Thank goodness for the trained emergency responders and that it was only a minor leak!
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