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Pool Glitch Sends 2 Kids To Hospital

Source: Dayton Daily News

Publication date: 2000-08-04

Power failure dumps acid, chlorine FRANKLIN - Two children were treated for minor injuries Thursday after a computer malfunction blamed on thunderstorms released a surge of chlorine and acid into Franklin's public pool, city officials said.

Franklin's public works director, Sonny Lewis, said he hopes to have the problem fixed and to reopen the pool today.

About 1:56 p.m., Franklin firefighters and Joint Emergency Medical Service personnel from Carlisle, Franklin and Franklin Twp. arrived at The Paul Fitzgerald Pool at 301 E. Sixth St. where about 70 parents and children scrambled to get out of the water.

A girl, 8, and a boy, 9, were rushed to Southview Hospital, officials said.

"They were just complaining about burning in the throat, coughing," said Tony Abston, a Franklin fire battalion duty officer.

The girl was later released, and the boy was kept at the hospital for chest X-rays, said hospital spokeswoman Bonnie Baker. Both were in good condition, she said.

A power outage from a thunderstorm Wednesday night created a computer malfunction, which stopped recirculation pumps, Lewis said.

The pumps allow chemicals that clean the pool, such as hydrochloric acid and chlorine, to be dispersed evenly throughout the water, he said. Because the pumps stopped working, a "slug" of acid and chlorine was dumped into the system, Lewis said.

When he and firefighters arrived, the pool's pH level had returned to normal limits, he added.

Franklin resident Lorie Urschel said she hurried out of the house to see if her daughter, Kathy, and her friend, Sarah Moss, both 14, were all right. Both teens said they saw the boy, who was sent to the hospital, start coughing.

"There was yellow stuff around the ladder on the shallow (end)," said Sarah Moss.

Holly Daniels of Franklin, who also came with her two children to the pool, said pool officials, firefighters and emergency crews reacted quickly.

"People were out of the pool in about 10 to 15 seconds," she said.

* Contact Cheryl M. Harris at (513) 743-5305 or e-mail her at cheryl_harris@coxohio.com

For information

* Residents can contact Franklin city officials at the pool at (513) 746-2944 or city hall at (513) 746-9921.

http://realcities.newsreal.com/pages/realcities/Story.nsp?story_id=12620424&site=charlotte&ID=realcities&scategory=Business+and+Finance

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), August 05, 2000