Fargo Cass Public Health Director comments on unusual pool incident
Fargo, North Dakota – An unfortunate incident took place at the La Quinta Inn & Suites located on 46th St. Several children experienced distress due to an unusual interaction of pool chemicals on May 28.
The incident happened within the pump room of the hotel. Two critical pool chemicals, muriatic acid—used to maintain PH levels—and chlorine—employed for disinfecting the water—were unintentionally mixed, resulting in a minor spill and subsequent gaseous emission.
Mr. Grant Larson, the Director of Environmental Health at Fargo Cass Public Health, spoke about the event, describing it as a highly unusual occurrence. “I’ve been here 25 years and this is the first time it has happened,” said Larson, emphasizing the rarity of such an incident.
He further explained the accidental combination of chemicals as a “freak accident”. Larson detailed the mishap, saying, “We really call it like a ‘freak’ kind of thing where they were replacing one bucket because one was getting kind of low, and some spilled onto the other bucket”.
Larson emphasized the thorough training technicians undergo to prevent such instances. They are professionally guided on chemical handling and educated on the importance of preventing inadvertent mixtures. “It was just a rare, unfortunate incident that occurred,” he added.
Larson suggested parents could take steps to ensure their children’s safety by self-testing pool water. “There’s test kits online for $5 up to the sky’s limit as far as cost, so the parents would just have to educate themselves on how to use that,” he stated.
The hotel has since addressed the issue, and the pool has resumed full operations. Our attempts to get a statement from La Quinta Inn & Suites regarding the incident were met with the response that any statement, if made, would be released at a later date.