Sheldon, Iowa — Sheldon firefighters were called to the report of a chemical spill in the maintenance room of the swimming pool area at Sheldon’s Holiday Inn Express shortly before 9:30 Thursday morning.
Sheldon Assistant Fire Chief Randy Harms tells KIWA that the incident happened when the hotel received an unexpected delivery of chemicals. Harms says the empty chemical containers contain a small amount of chemical residue, and an attempt was made by a maintenance worker to combine two partial containers of the same chemical into one container. However, a mistake was made, and two different chemicals, hydrochloric acid and chlorine were combined into the same container, causing a reaction that generated foam and noxious fumes. Harms praised the maintenance worker and chemical delivery person for quickly donning protective masks, getting the containers outside the building, and going back inside the pool area, and opening windows to ventilate the building.
Harms says Sheldon Firefighters contacted the Sioux City Fire Department HazMat Team to make sure the right steps were being taken to mitigate the situation. He says they learned from the HazMat Team that the fumes given off by the combination of the chemicals is highly flammable, but Harms says fortunately there was no ignition source in the area.
O’Brien County Emergency Management Coordinator Jared Johnson says he assisted the hotel staff in contacting a Sioux City company to come and properly dispose of the contaminated chemicals. Johnson says the Iowa DNR was also consulted, and approved of the steps that had been taken in handling the situation.
The Holiday Inn Express indoor pool was closed until late afternoon.
