35 people exposed to dangerous chemical mix at San Jose pool

SAN JOSE — A summer afternoon at a neighborhood swimming pool took a frightening turn Thursday when at least 35 people, including kids, were exposed to a dangerous mixture of chemicals after a pool maintenance worker mixed the wrong products.

All of the people exposed to the combination of muriatic acid and chlorine — pool chemicals which created a gas cloud at the Shadow Brook Swim Club in Almaden Valley — were decontaminated and transported to hospitals, according to the San Jose Fire Department.

Officials said the victims were taken to nine different local hospitals in 10 ambulances. The patients included children as young as 6 and a number of parents. San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said a few of those exposed to the gas cloud experienced shortness of breath and vomiting, but he could not say whether any were seriously injured.

Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center treated six patients for upper respiratory conditions and breathing difficulties, according to a Kaiser spokesman. Five of those six patients were released from the hospital by 4 p.m. Good Samaritan Hospital reported the three patients taken there for treatment were in “good condition.”

A spokeswoman at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center said the hospital treated four people, but she did not have their names and thus could not provide information about their condition late Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened just after noon at the neighborhood swim club. The Fire Department, which sent its hazardous materials team, said the mix of chemicals could be “potentially fatal.”

“We are taking this very seriously,” Matlow said at the scene. “That combination of chemicals can release a gas cloud that can cause what’s called secondary drowning. The lungs start swelling up with its own fluid, the fluid blocks the airwaves and you drown in your own fluids.”

Lindsay Tarasco, 17, was teaching a group of 7- and 8 year-olds when she noticed a few moms urging everyone out of the pool and then an odd smell in the air.

“I smelled something, so I took a deep breath in. Bad mistake,” Tarasco said. “I realized there was definitely something poisonous in the air.”