OTISFIELD, Maine — Three people were injured Friday morning in a pair of explosions believed to have been caused by a reaction in chemicals used to clean the family swimming pool.
The most seriously hurt, 44-year-old Tammy Thomas, remained hospitalized Friday night in stable condition. A family member said in an update on Facebook that the burns were not as severe as initially feared but that she remained on a respirator.
WGME reported that Thomas’ parents suffered less severe burns when a bucket of water exploded, twice, as Tammy was using a broomstick to mix in chlorine.
Tammy’s parents told a reporter that their daughter was covered in chlorine after the blasts. Her eyes and face were burning and she was having trouble breathing, they said.
Her parents were taken to a Norway hospital. Tammy was taken by helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Tammy’s husband, Shane Thomas, updated his wife’s condition on Facebook on Friday night to keep her many friend and well-wishers abreast.
“Tammy is currently sedated and on a respirator however she is breathing somewhat on her own,” he wrote. “Still not completely out of the woods yet but prognosis looks good and we will know more tomorrow once they take her off the breathing machine.”
What in heck was she mixing the chlorine with?
i cant remember the chem i had a pool at my parents growing up when you winterize you use the same thing as during the summer but there are too more additives THE DIRECTIONS say do not mix add one at a time no short cuts i feel bad this happens a lot it said she was mixing.hope she has quick recovery.
Great stuff to swim in.
Sounds like Potassium Nitrate.
Pool closing chemicals are pre-mixed. There is no need to mix various liquids in buckets. Best wished to the injured folks, speedy recovery.
you get a kit with 2 or three things and it comes with a floatee that that you put tablets in, did you hear about the cleaning lady at a hotel forgot where mixed amonia and bleach had to evacuate the building. i had an inground not a wallyworld so i dont know what you have.but with mine it said dont mix or there will be a violent explosion.just hope she is alright
I am sorry for the 3 but chlorine is just not going to explode all on it’s own. Only when mixed with something reactive is it going to go BOOM, and then only after it gives clear warning. This is a case where the State Fire Marshal’s office needs to get involved. If there are bucket’s of chemically unstable chlorine out there then the State Fire Marshal needs to identify them by lot number’s and issue a re-call on the grounds of iminent threat to public safety. Not seize them, but at the very least, get them off the shelves and isolate them until they can be checked for stability, safe public sale and use. This also might be a really good time for the Fire Dept’s to start re-reading their HAZMAT book’s about chemical incident’s. In case anyone has forgotten, chlorine was the first chemical gas weapon used in WW 1.