All students are home from the hospital following a pool-chemical accident at Clarkston High School.
“The coach identified the problem immediately, evacuated the pool and called 911,” said Anita Banach, director of Communications and Marketing. “Emergency response was very efficient. HAZMAT arived and took over. Our number one focus is safety of students, and we’re very thankful everyone is home.”
Investigation indicates an electrical brown-out at the school shut off the pool’s pump, June 24, but supplied enough power for a sensor to continue to supplying treatment chemicals, Banach said.
When power was restored, chemicals built up in a resevoir were automatically dumped into the pool, making swimmers sick.
‘It wasn’t moving through the system and kept calling for more chlorine and muratic acid and it just kept pouring it in. These kids were in the pool and they were basically getting high off the chlorine in the pool,? said Chief Steve Ronk, Independence Township Fire Department. ‘It’s like being in high concentration bleach water.?
Seven children ages 7-12 were treated, Ronk said.
‘We transported five to the hospital and two stayed over night at Genesys Hospital to make sure they didn’t have pneumonia,? he said.
About 1,500 people who were attending a dance recital were evacuated from the school and sent home, Ronk said.
‘They were not really in a lot of danger, but we didn’t know if this was a raw release of chemical and the chemical was pooled up there somewhere on the floor or whether if it had gone into the pool which is a better thing,? he said. ‘We just didn’t want to risk evacuating 1,500 people in a hurry.?
Ronk said firefighters and Oakland County health inspectors are investigating.
‘We’ve got one of our guys over there working with the schools trying to figure out possibly what took place,? he said. ‘We’re just trying to figure out what happen and how we can keep it from happening again.?
An immediate step is a new procedure, clearing the pool of swimmers when restarting the pump and letting it run awhile before letting swimmers back in, Banach said.
Facilities will also connect the pump and chemical sensor electronically, so if one goes down, the other will also turn off, she said.
Tentative date for reopening is July 6, she said.
“We’ll wait for the final report from fire department and health department,” she said.
Phil Custodio contributed to this report.