Gas surge at Crystal Hot Springs sends 9 to hospital

HONEYVILLE, Box Elder County — Nine people were hospitalized over the weekend after they were apparently exposed to chlorine gas at Crystal Hot Springs. Now investigators are pushing for criminal charges against the owners.

Dispatchers were called to an unknown medical problem around 10:15 p.m. Saturday.

"People were not feeling well," said Box Elder Sheriff's Sgt. Dale Ward said. "When our deputy arrived, there was a strong odor of chlorine in the air and, ultimately, there was a release of (hydrogen chloride) gas."

The sheriff's deputy who responded to the scene was investigating when she was also exposed to the gas, which Bear River Health officials said was most likely a chlorine gas.

Joshua Greer, an environmental health scientist for Bear River Health who responded to the springs with a hazardous material team, said it appears that a circulation pump had "tripped off" leaving the chlorine undiluted.

"Without the dilution of the water, you the have the potential for some chlorine gas," Greer said. "Once the pump switched back on, that gas cloud was likely moved out into the pool."

Greer said the gas plume would affect any patrons in the area, primarily causing respiratory problems.

"They would definitely know something was wrong," Greer said of the chemical's effects. "If you're exposed to chlorine, it's going to be an irritant to your respiratory system."

Zoey Inlow, 10, was swimming at the pool with her mother, Rachel Frazier, and some siblings Saturday evening. Frazier said the girl was moving between the various pools when something went wrong.

"She came running up to me saying she couldn't breathe, she was choking, she didn't know what happened," Frazier said. "(She said) her eyes hurt, her nose hurt, she needed a drink."

While Frazier asked those around them to call 911, the girl told her mother that something had burned her and was hurting her nose and mouth.

"I was terrified," Frazier said. "I thought her airway was closing off. … I've never seen her like that, where she was really choking and I couldn't do anything."

Zoey was treated at a hospital and was released that night, but had to return the next day for an inhaler when she continued to have difficulty breathing.

Ward said that there were eight total individuals hospitalized for throat and eye irritation. Bear River Health officials put the number at nine.

Regardless, Box Elder County Sheriff Lynn Yeates said his office will turn over the results of their investigation to the county attorney to consider potential misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment. Yeates felt it was reckless for employees to be "dumping the chemicals when the pool was so full of patrons."

When the sheriff was told that health department officials believed it was an equipment failure, not an act of negligence by employees, he said: "I'm not sure. We'll let the county attorney review all the statements and go from that."

Frazier said employees at the hot springs told her that this type of incident was not totally uncommon at the recreation site.

"They made it sound like (Zoey) was going to be OK, was going to be fine and this just happened two weeks ago to one of their lifeguards and then it happened to somebody else in May and they were fine," she said. "To me, that just seems like some gross negligence."

Ward said those at his office heard this was one of three recent incidents, but this was the only one the sheriff's office could confirm because it was the only one that was reported.

Jeremy Johnson, general manager at Crystal Hot Springs, said he and his employees are being proactive to make sure they are being compliant with regulations.

"What happened Saturday was a fluke accident that could happen at any residential, private or commercial swimming pool," he said. "We just had the bad end of the stick."

Johnson said he's hoping the public will understand the incident was an accident. His major concern is that they get the results of the investigation from the health department and do what they can to prevent something similar in the future.

"Our stomachs are churning, trying to get some answers," he said. "Our major concern right now is that everybody's safe that was affected and our second concern is to get it to where this will never happen again. We can't do much now but wait and speculate."

As for the allegations of negligence or recklessness, Johnson said he and his employees have yet to hear anything from the county. He said they are striving to follow all protocols and will conduct additional training with staff members.

"We feel that we were not negligent," he said. "We were doing our routine check-ups and making sure things were going right. It was just an accident. We didn't want it to happen and we don't want to have it happen again."

Jill Parker, spokeswoman for Bear River Health Department, said that there were two pools at the site that were circulated and sanitized with chlorine. There is a third geothermal pool at the hot springs as well.

"Both circulated pools were closed Saturday and were closed indefinitely until this circulation can be fixed," Parker said.

The recreation area is equidistant between Brigham City and Tremonton and is "quite popular," Ward said. "There are a lot of people there every weekend."

Through their investigation, the health department hopes to keep it that way.

"We're trying to verify that their equipment is functioning properly," Greer said. "We want that pool to be a safe place for the public to swim."

**Contributing:**[Andrew Adams](<mailto: aadams@ksl.com>) and Shara Park

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