Des Moines, IA - 3/8/2002

The Des Moines Register

Toxic Cloud Overcomes Guests

By April Goodwin
Register Staff Writer
March 8, 2002

A 12-year-old boy was in fair condition Thursday night following a chemical accident at a Des Moines hotel that sent 23 other people to hospitals.

The toxic cloud that caused Marriott hotel guests to gag and choke was caused by improperly mixed swimming pool chemicals. At least four of the victims were held overnight.

Several people suffered acute breathing problems, including Tyler Christensen, 12, of Belmond, who earlier was in serious condition at Blank Children's Hospital. The chemical reaction was triggered after Robert Parker, 38, of Pleasant Hill inadvertently mixed muriatic acid, a cleaner, with chlorine, a disinfectant. Fire officials said the resulting cloud of gas spread quickly through the hotel's third-floor swimming pool and exercise area.

Parker, who was overcome almost immediately by the fumes, was in fair condition at Iowa Methodist Medical Center late Thursday.

Hotel guests said they became light-headed and dizzy after the accident happened at 10 a.m. The 415-room hotel, located at 700 Grand Ave., was 90 percent occupied Wednesday night. Many were attending the girls' state basketball tournament.

"Kids were jumping out of the pool, coughing and gagging," said Whitney Glade, 15, a basketball player from Guthrie Center. "They were pale and shaking."

Cerissa Rhoades, 14, also of Guthrie Center, said she was on the treadmill in the workout area when "all of a sudden you couldn't breathe."

Paige Johnson, 14, and Ashley Newbrough, 18, both of Guthrie Center, said it felt as if something was stuck in their throats.

The accident touched off a frenzied evacuation that included a city bus used to take victims to hospitals. Barefoot children in swimming togs and wearing oxygen masks were escorted to ambulances. Adults were wheeled out on stretchers.

Hotel guests and workers were moved to floors away from the pool area after the cloud formed. Several hundred guests on the 30 floors above the area were advised to stay in their rooms until the fumes were neutralized.

"We were getting ready to go out and buy tickets for the games when the girls got off the elevator," said Guthrie Center girls" coach Steve Brand. "At first I thought they were overreacting. Then I got down there and realized it was something we needed to take care of."

Doctors rushed to hospitals to treat an expected flood of victims, most of whom complained of burning throats and eyes. But at Mercy Medical Center, emergency doctors soon outnumbered patients.

"We call it noxious inhalation. Our concern is that it can get worse after 12 hours," said Dr. Barry Cohen. "It's difficult to predict."

Cohen gave asthma medicine to some of the victims to treat inflammation.

"These are healthy young athletes, so this really shouldn't bother them," Cohen said. "Generally, they should all be better in a few days. Any long-standing disease from this exposure would be unlikely."

Des Moines Fire Chief Ron Wakeham said the number of injured fluctuated throughout the day because some parents who traveled with their children to the hospital were counted among those exposed to the gas. A city bus transported 20 people, but only 14 were patients. Another seven were taken by ambulance and three victims were taken by private vehicle, he said.

The chemical reaction is similar to that caused by mixing drain cleaner with bleach, Wakeham said. But swimming pool chemicals "are much stronger and more concentrated than household products."

Wakeham said the gas was mostly confined to the third floor and added that guests were "extremely lucky it wasn't worse."

The fire department's hazardous materials team diluted the remaining chemicals and vented the gas through the hotel's ventilation system. The hotel will be billed about $3,600 for the cleanup.

A state investigation of the accident is unlikely. Mary Bryant of the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration said her agency typically investigates accidents only after three or more employees are hospitalized. Almost all of those injured Thursday were hotel guests.

Michael Magnant, environmental engineer with the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the state keeps incident reports of pool injuries and that chemical-mixing errors are uncommon.

"There typically is less than one a year on a statewide basis, that we know about anyway," he said.

Problems generally result from "carelessness or miscommunication somewhere along the line," Magnant said. "A lot of times chemicals would be stored in the same area. . . . They're not used together but they are both used in the pool."

A Des Moines pool and spa store manager said chlorine with muriatic acid is a dangerous mix.