Pool problem sends 14 to hospital

MINSTER - More than a dozen swimmers were taken to the hospital for medical evaluation Tuesday after a "mechanical issue" at the village pool in Minster caused a large amount of chlorine to be released in the water.

At around 8 a.m. Tuesday, a village maintenance employee discovered a mechanical issue with one of the Minster Swimming Pool facility pumps, village administrator Don Harrod said in a news release.

"Upon discovery of the malfunction, pool staff immediately followed established safety protocols and suspended operations while the issue was assessed," Harrod said in the release. "As a precautionary measure, 14 members of the swim team were transported to local hospitals for medical evaluation. Their well-being remains our primary concern, and we are continuing to monitor the situation closely."

By Tuesday night, all the swimmers had been released from the hospital, Harrod said.

County health commissioner Oliver Fisher told The Daily Standard that he's discussed the situation with the pool operators and scheduled an inspection for this morning.

"(We will) also get some more information and discuss kind of what they think may have happened that caused the problem," Fisher said.

"We're not completely sure yet (what exactly happened). There's a circulation pump which pumps the water around, and then there's also a chemical pump that pumps the chemicals into the pool," Fisher said. "Typically if one of those fails, the other one is supposed to shut off, (that) kind of thing. So, we're not sure if there's - honestly, at this point - we're not sure which failed or what exactly failed. Other than we know that there was a mechanical issue that caused a large amount of chlorine to enter to the pool."

The pool will remain closed until repairs have been completed, and all systems have been thoroughly inspected and determined to be operating safely, the release states.

"We know what caused it now and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again. We want to come up with an alarm system to notify us," Harrod said. "We don't want it to happen again."

Fisher added that in his 12 years as health commissioner, this is the first time such an issue has occurred.

"Not to say that there's never a chance that something like this could happen. Unfortunately, pools operate with mechanical equipment and mechanical equipment can fail or, have problems," Fisher said. "That's why it's always important that water quality is done and checked. We'll also be checking to see if that was done prior to opening, or before allowing swimmers to come in the pool this morning. There's a lot of questions that we need to (answer) with our inspection and talking with the operator to find out more info on that."

In addition to the county health department, officials with the Ohio Department of Health were notified of the incident and are providing assistance.

"The Village of Minster is cooperating with the appropriate agencies as the incident is reviewed. We appreciate the patience and understanding of our residents, swim team families, and pool patrons during this time," Harrod wrote in the release. "Additional updates will be provided as more information becomes available."

EMS personnel from Minster, Fort Loramie, New Bremen and St. Marys and the Minster Fire Department also assisted on scene.

No additional information regarding individual medical evaluations was released by press time.