WEBSTER, Texas — Sixteen people were taken to the hospital after being exposed to “improperly mixed pool chemicals” at the Great Wolf Lodge Wednesday morning, according to Webster city officials.
The new indoor water park and hotel was holding a grand opening for their resort which is located on Great Wolf Way just east of the Gulf Freeway. The resort is located on a 27-acre site.
The lodge was set to open Labor Day weekend but announced in June that they were moving the opening day to Aug. 7.
Officials said a third-party contractor, Hawkins, improperly mixed pool chemicals, causing a chemical reaction in an isolated building separate from the hotel and waterpark.
Five people were evacuated from the building, officials said. Sixteen employees and contractors, many working in construction, were taken to the hospital to be decontaminated. No guests were harmed.
“As the chemical reaction occurred there was a cloud which affected the people that were outside in the area," said Webster Fire Department Chief Dean Spencer. "They ingested some of this, they had some breathing problems, so they were transported to the hospital. Some of them had more issues that others, some were just for precautionary measures."
In a statement on Thursday, Great Wolf Lodge said everyone who was taken to a hospital has since been released. Read the full statement:
"The safety and wellbeing of our guests and pack members is always our primary focus. We were informed yesterday afternoon that all those transported to the hospital were released following an incident at a building separate from our main indoor water park and resort. Safety is paramount. As such, we are putting additional safeguards in place for our third-party pool chemical vendors and are actively assisting officials as they investigate the matter. We want to again express our gratitude to the Webster Fire Department for their quick action, which provided a positive outcome to the situation. We also appreciate their thorough review of our facility prior to providing the all-clear for us to proceed with the opening of our resort yesterday."
Officials said the situation was quickly contained and will not affect the resort's operations on Wednesday.
A handful of guests who spoke to KHOU 11's Stephen Goin revealed they had not been notified about the chemical incident before they arrived.
Repeated interview requests to Great Wolf Lodge and Hawkins went unanswered Wednesday. In a statement from the resort, officials said they received an "all-clear" to open the resort as planned.
"The health and safety of our guests and pack members is always our priority, and we greatly appreciate the quick actions of first responders from the city of Webster in response to an incident at an external building outside of the main indoor water park and resort caused by an external vendor. We've received the all-clear to open the resort and all water park attractions as planned this afternoon from the Webster Fire Department."
An environmental company is working with Great Wolf Lodge and the contractor to clean the affected chemical tanks safely, Webster officials said.
The Webster Fire Department isolated the tanks, monitored the area, and confirmed no chemicals were detected in the hotel or waterpark.
Friendswood EMS, League City Fire Department and EMS, and the Nassau Bay Fire Department and EMS also responded to the scene.