Friday, August 27, 2010

MGM Grand Makes A Nasty In Their Pool

This afternoon at the MGM Grand pool, they had an incident where chlorine was mixed with another chemical and caused a poison gas, injuring around 100 people, with about 25 people hospitalized.
From the Las Vegas Sun: About 100 people were treated for breathing difficulties after excessive amounts of chlorine leaked into the lazy river at the MGM Grand pool area.
Richard Brenner, hazardous materials coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department, said 26 people were taken to five Las Vegas area hospitals, all of whom were conscious and alert. He said injuries were minor and no one became unconscious.
Brenner estimated that 1,500 people were at the pool area about 1:30 p.m. when it was evacuated. He said fire department crews treated about 100 people to determine whether they needed hospital care, Brenner said.
The water in the lazy river – which is not connected to the resort’s other pools – became over-chlorinated after a pump likely malfunctioned, Brenner said. A chlorine gas began evaporating off the water, filling the pool area with the noxious smell, he said.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/aug/27/10-people-overcome-fumes-mgm-grand-pools-lazy-rive/
This tells me a couple of things. First, someone screwed up big time at MGM and this will cost MGM big time. MGM is hurting financially, hurting very badly. This incident may be the straw that broke the camel's back, financially. I am sure a phone call has been made to Glen Lehner already. (a Las Vegas ambulance chaser lawyer)
Second, it shows that the elimination of the CCFD haz-mat unit was not a big deal. The Las Vegas Fire Dept. haz mat unit handled the situation and the first in units of CCFD did a remarkable job of triage of the injured and stabilized the situation with the chlorine. This was a test of the new agreement, and from all news accounts, the incident had few problems. The "concerns" of the CCFD fire fighters union has been unfounded and this incident proves they were wrong.
Finally, too bad this did not happen instead of a chlorine spill:


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