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Metro Police block off an area near the intersection of Audrie Street and Harmon Avenue after a chlorine leak occurred in the MGM Grand’s pool area on Aug. 27, 2010.
Published Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 | 2:01 p.m.
Updated Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 | 6:34 p.m.
Richard Brenner, the Clark County Fire Department HazMat Coordinator, speaks with the media after about 100 people were treated for breathing difficulties following a chlorine leak Friday, Aug. 27, 2010, at the MGM Grand pool area.
Map of MGM Grand Hotel and Casino
MGM Grand Hotel and Casino
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard S., Las Vegas
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.
“What it does is cause respiratory distress,” he said. “It’s hard for you to breathe … The only way to get it out is by breathing it out.”
Brenner said guests at the pool began to smell the chlorine, prompting MGM Grand to start the evacuation. Those who were overcome by the fumes were treated by breathing in large amounts of oxygen, Brenner said.
“They use sodium hypochlorite (to chlorinate water in the pools),” he said. “That’s bleach. That’s what they inject into the lazy river.”
No one will suffer long-term health effects from the brief exposure, Brenner said.
He said the leak appeared to be the result of an equipment failure as opposed to human error. He credited the MGM Grand’s staff with responding quickly and shutting off the valve.
MGM Resorts International spokesman Gordon Absher said the incident occurred after an injector valve on the chlorination system got stuck in the “on” position. The valve immediately was closed when noticed, Absher said.
MGM Grand’s pool complex spans 6.6 acres and includes five separate pools and the 1,000-foot lazy river.
Separate from the main pool area is WET Republic, a 53,000-square-foot adult pool complex. The pools are located at the rear of the property near the resort's convention center.
Sara Reaney, 26, of Dublin, Ireland, was at WET Republic with friends when the area was evacuated. She said the scene was organized and calm.
“The DJ just stopped and they told everybody to get out,” she said. “They just gave everybody passes for tomorrow.”
She said she and her friends, who are in town for a bachelorette party, probably would return to the pools this weekend.
The MGM Grand pool area was reopened at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
"We obviously do regular maintenance on our pools and water cleaning system," he said. "This was a malfunctioning valve. It was not because of a lack of maintenance."
Those who were hospitalized were taken to Valley Hospital Medical Center, University Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Spring Valley Hospital and St. Rose Dominican Hospitals - San Martin campus.
The Las Vegas Fire and Rescue hazardous materials team assisted Clark County firefighters.
Metro Police closed Audrie Street between Harmon Avenue and the MGM Grand valet as emergency crews arrived.
Sun reporter Amanda Finnegan contributed to this report.
Comment removed by moderator. Off topic.
If this was an industrial site, industry standard safety rules would require that chlorine detectors, chlorine alarms, automatic ventilation systems, and employee traing on how to respond to chlorine emergencies would all be put into place.
Somebody blew it here. Chlorine is an extremely dangerous gas and somebody is lucky that no one was killed.
Perhaps it is time for the city and county building codes to mandate these systems around commercial swimming pools.
A mix of chemicals? It's chlorine and FUN! =D
In all seriousness I've had a good lung full of chlorine fumes from a 30lb tub of shock. It wasn't my brightest or most pleasurable moment...
lawsuit city. Good thing they are in Vegas, lots of paralegals, I mean, Lawyers, to choose from.
A few complimentary buffet tickets and every things fine.
didn't this just happen at Red Rock?
Just needed Housekeeping or janitorial staff to be using a bit of Ammonia at the pool and it would be WWI trench death all over again.
This is the third major Strip pool incident in a week, including one fatality, one near fatality and this potential mass fatality.
Might be time for casinos to hire adult lifeguards or a second security officer.
Good thing this was not a major incident being this is in the county and the county no longer has a hazmat unit. Rory said that response times would not be compromised with the city responding into the county for haz mat and heavy rescue calls. The city responding from Buffalo/Cheyenne or the county from Russell/Decatur. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which one is closer to the strip. Comissioner Reid stop playing politics with the safety of the people who live and work here, and also the tourists who trust that we have emergency services coverage while they are here supporting our economy. It's only a matter of TIME!!!.
Good thing this did not happen during that Wet Republic Pool Party. The revenue losses for beverage would have been a disaster for the hotel bottom line.
Nice week for pools in LV...
Check out my LV blog:
http://jimmyhoofa-lv.blogspot.com/
It's a good thing Jimmyhoofa read the article and noticed that WET Republic was evacuated as a safety precaution even though it is a salt water pool and doesn't use chlorine. It is however, the next closest pool from the lazy river where this all happened. It's a good thing somebody decided to put customer safety over profit.
"filling the pool area with the noxious smell"....oh dear, a bad smell, like when I pour bleach into the washing machine. A good example of what a nation of cry-babies we have become. Here's an idea for next time: walk away from the bad smell!
Hey pdxjim, next time pour some ammonia in there with your bleach and see how you like that smell!
These hotel pools are bad news. Why can't the hotels just shut them all down and concentrate on the CASINO action? If you wanna swim go to Raging waters, If ya wanna gamble come to Las Vegas, If you wanna dance then go to LA, if ya wanna gamble come to Las Vegas, If ya wanna have sex, go to Pahrump, If ya wanna gamble, come to Las Vegas!!!
@thatguysean:
My comment was directed at the WR pool party on Sat.
Had this happened during that event... Not pretty.
Chlorine gas can kill -- Germans used it during WWI. Not nice. JH.
We go to Vegas for the gaming, shows, pools, dining and shopping. They need to be sure the pools are safe, as it is a huge part of the vacation experience.
This is why we can't close Yucca Mountain - we need to move that toxic stuff and have Harry Reid hire about 2000 people to keep watch over it. Could this be a weapon of mass destruction? Bottle that stuff up and send it to Yucca.
Jobs, Harry, jobs
We love to visit Las Vegas, plenty of fun things to do. I'm just amazed that 1500 people at this one hotel think sitting around or swimming in a hotel pool is the best way to have fun in Las Vegas. Just doesn't sound too exciting to me. Glad nobody was seriously hurt, but I imagine the hotel will be paying out a lot of settlement money or various comps, mostly to people just taking advantage of the situation. I'd say at the most comp them a room for one night, other than those actually hospitalized or treated at the site who should expect something more for their inconvenience and pain, but realistically, even those should be settled with a comped trip to LV at most, unless injuries are worse than I'm guessing.
Man, it was sooooo hot that the Beverly Hills Poolboy was actually sent outside to CLEAN the MGM pool for once, so it was all his fault that it got overchlorinated.
probably a pool party bakersfield, live band/dj
gerrlfc, Point well taken.
Must be terrorists.
That's why I stay at the Green Valley Ranch.
I'm puzzled. The nearest hospital emergency room is Desert Springs (just down Flamingo). Why were none of the injured apparently taken there? The next nearest is Sunrise. I'm not saying that Desert Springs is a good hospital (or a bad hospital)--just wondering why patients were taken to more distant hospitals.