All San Jose pool visitors released from hospitals

SAN JOSE » A mistake by a maintenance worker that resulted in a toxic chemical mixture at a community swimming pool Thursday could have had deadly results, officials said at the time, but the 35 patients transported to nine hospitals were checked out by doctors and released the same day, said Joy Alexiou, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Emergency Medical Services.

The patients included children as young as 6 and a number of parents. San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said Thursday that a few of the those exposed to the combination of muriatic acid and chlorine — pool chemicals that created a gas cloud at Shadow Brook Swim Club in Almaden Valley — experienced shortness of breath and vomiting.

The pool remains closed as a team works to clean up the toxic mess, said Mike Balliet, director of Santa Clara County’s Department of Environmental Health. He was uncertain Friday how long the cleanup will take, but said that the pool would remain closed until the department conducts a full inspection of the pool’s chemistry and safety of the entire site.

The incident happened just after noon Thursday at the neighborhood swim club, which is off Almaden Expressway about four miles south of Blossom Hill Road. The fire department, which sent its hazardous materials team, said that the mix of chemicals could have been “potentially fatal.”

Officials said that inside the pool’s pump room, the chlorine level was at 15 parts per million Thursday afternoon — far above the maximum allowable exposure limit below 1 part per million.

STAFF FILE PHOTO The San Jose Fire Department remained at the scene after at least 35 people, including children, were exposed to a dangerous mixture of chemicals Thursday at the Shadow Brook Swim Club in San Jose.