‘I can’t breathe’: What family says happened after chemical leak at Boise city pool
A grandmother, mother and her 5-year-old son went to a public pool on the West Bench on a hot day in the summer of 2021.
Twenty minutes later, the family said they were engulfed in a green chemical cloud that burned their lungs, and the boy shouted “I can’t breathe.”
The details, from claims filed against the city of Boise on behalf of all three, shed light on a chemical leak that hospitalized 14 people and left over a dozen others feeling sick.
The noxious gas was the result of “two pool chemicals that were inadvertently mixed during a service delivery being completed by an outside vendor at a nearby maintenance shed,” according to a June 25, 2021 news release from the city, the day the incident occurred.
The three claims, which state law requires to be filed before someone sues a state or local government, accuse the city of liability for the recklessness and negligence of its vendor. Each family member asks for between $100,000 and $500,000 in damages. The claims were filed in September 2021.
A company called Oxarc, which has offices in Boise, Nampa, North Idaho, Oregon and Washington, was contracted by the city to deliver chemicals to the pool, according to a city spokesperson, Maria Weeg. The city declined to comment on pending litigation, but said in an email that the tort claims were “tendered” to Oxarc.
Oxarc did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Boise city clerk’s office initially denied a request for the claims from the Idaho Statesman on the grounds that they were records prepared in anticipation of litigation or a legal settlement. A month later, after a lawyer representing the Statesman wrote a letter to the city objecting to its denial, the city sent the tort claims, saying they had been withheld in error.
The city clerk’s office denied another Statesman request for other city documents related to the leak, citing the possible litigation or settlement.
A strange smell: ‘My brain is dying’
Kristen Seeger, a former Meridian resident now living in California, and her family arrived at Boise’s Fairmont Pool at about 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 25, 2021. The family played in the water for about 20 minutes, according to the tort claims.
After 1 p.m., Seeger told her mother, Melinda Seeger, that she’d noticed a “strange smell,” before seeing a “green cloud/mist coming from a shed that began to envelop the pool area.”
“Within seconds, Kristen Seeger and her family were swathed by a toxic chemical gas that burned their lungs, throat, noses, eyes, mouth, and skin,” the claims said.
Kristen Seeger wrapped her 5-year-old son in a towel and told him to hold his breath. But the boy coughed and cried, saying “my brain is dying” and “I can’t breathe,” the claims said.
Kristen and others at the pool began to vomit, according to the claims.
Melinda, Kristen’s mother and a registered nurse, got the family into the car to drive them to a hospital but couldn’t complete the drive because of burning in her eyes and reduced lung capacity.
After a short car ride during which Kristen vomited and her son screamed, Melinda pulled the family over in a nearby parking lot and called 911, the claims said.
Paramedics delay help, claims say
Once a fire and paramedic crew arrived, they “could not administer care for 10 to 15 minutes because they did not know what toxic chemical was causing the medical issues and were afraid they would also be overcome,” the claim said.
The boy was “confused why the first responders, who he thought were coming to help him, were not saving him,” his claim said.
Equipped with hazmat gear, responders eventually approached the family and had them strip naked and doused them with a fire hose in the parking lot to decontaminate them, the claims said.
Technicians then determined that each of the family members had “dangerously low” oxygen levels, and they were given supplemental oxygen.
Hospital denies entry but offers care, claims say
The family was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, but the hospital did not allow them to enter because of the danger of toxic chemicals to hospital staff and patients, the claims said. Instead, the family was treated outside, and were again stripped and sponged down by hospital staff.
In an email, a spokesperson for the hospital, Mark Snider, said that “federal privacy laws prevent disclosure of specific care provided to these patients.”
For six hours, the family remained outside the hospital, feeling burning sensations in their eyes and lungs, the claims said.
Kristen and Melinda were prescribed nebulizers — which turn medicine into mist — and inhalers, according to the claims.
“Kristen Seeger is still haunted by the sounds and images of her son screaming for help, pool patrons vomiting and collapsing on the sidewalk, and the fear she and her family experienced as they believed they may be victims of a chemical attack,” the claim said.
The family did not respond to the Statesman’s request for an interview when contacted through their attorney.
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
