Sunny early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High near 85F. SE winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 56F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Butte-Silver Bow firefighters evaluate people exposed to a chlorine gas explosion Saturday morning at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Battalion chief Chad Silk said the explosion was "minor." He said 18 people had been transported to area hospitals and at press time none were in critical condition.

ANACONDA — Fairmont Hot Springs staff worked quickly to contain a chlorine leak at the resort Saturday, and guests and employees were evacuated as a precaution. 

Fairmont Hot Springs general manager Steve Luebeck said he got a call around 9:30 a.m. Saturday saying the top to one of their chlorine filtration systems popped off in an employee-only area, causing chlorine to leak into the resort's indoor and outdoor pools.

Butte-Silver Bow firefighters evaluate people exposed to a chlorine gas explosion Saturday morning at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Battalion chief Chad Silk said the explosion was "minor." He said 18 people had been transported to area hospitals and at press time none were in critical condition.

Luebeck said he was told the leak started about 20 minutes before he got the call.

He added while it would be accurate to call the occurrence an explosion, it isn't an explosion in the typical sense.

"Exactly what occurred is the water system and pressure on that cylinder pushed the top off," he said. "I think when most people hear 'explosion' they think flames and smoke and a mushroom cloud. That's not the situation.”

The building was evacuated shortly after Luebeck got the call, and the pools were reopened a little before 3 p.m., he said.

Luebeck said it’s his understanding that Fairmont staff had control of the situation quickly. “(The cap) came off, staff contained it well before EMS (arrived),” he said. “It’s my understanding that (staff) had it contained almost immediately.”

"It was handled pretty well," said a hot springs employee.

Butte Fire Department battalion chief Chad Silk said in an interview Saturday morning that by the time the fire department got there, Fairmont personnel already started evacuating the resort.

“What happened was, through the chlorine filtration for the pool, they have chlorine pucks that build up pressure in a PVC pipe, and that failed,” Silk said in an interview this morning. “And it released some chlorine gas, and through that, some of the chlorine gas exposed some people to chlorine.” He said the cap was popped off of a piece of PVC because of a minor pressure buildup in the pipe.

He said 12 people were sent to St. James and six were sent to Anaconda Community Hospital, and none of them were in critical condition at that time.

Luebeck said he’s worked at the hot springs for 30 years, and this is the first significant incident he knows of happening there.

“We’ve never had a building evacuation before,” he said.

Luebeck said Silk told him guests and some staff, including those with minor throat and eye irritation, were sent to the hospital to be evaluated. He added most of the people he knew of who went to the hospital had already returned to the hot springs by 2:50 p.m.

“It’s evolving, right?” Lueback said, “So what I know in this moment could be different than what I know two hours from now."

Low levels of chlorine can result in nose, throat and eye irritation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in high levels, can result in changes in breathing rate and coughing, as well as lung damage.

Luebeck said the hot springs has switched from the stabilized chlorine filtration system to a non-stabilized chlorine system.

“There are different ways to chlorinate pools, and I’m going to take a hard look at some alternatives,” Luebeck said. “The system that caused the incident today is no longer in use.”

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Originally published on mtstandard.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.

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