Airdrie's Genesis Place was closed this morning after reports that a few swimmers felt ill.

The City said a pool user reported a strong odour in an area of the leisure pool around 9:30 Monday morning. As a precaution, the pool was evacuated and four people were transported to the hospital with minor respiratory irritation.

"It is believed a small pocket of air was released during routine pool operation which caused a puff of concentrated pool chemicals," read a statement from the City posted on its Facebook Page. "This is a rare occurrence in pool maintenance. Water quality was not affected during the incident."

Following the incident, the city said a comprehensive pool assessment was completed including mechanical and chemical systems and it was deemed safe with all systems normal.

"Safety is our top priority. Genesis Place staff have and continue to follow AHS Pool Standards Regulations to provide a safe, healthy and fun environment for our residents," said the City in a statement. "To our patrons, thank you for your patience and understanding."

Deputy Chief Garth Rabel of the Airdrie Fire Department described the scene when his team got there.

"At Genesis Place this morning, the Airdrie Fire Department did respond with Alberta Health Services to a report of an odour or smell complaint within the swimming area of Genesis Place. When our teams arrived, they were met with numerous patients being assessed by AHS for minor exposure to this odour and that's all we knew at that time."

Rabel said that a chemical mixture caused the smell

"Through a very thorough investigation by the Genesis Place aquatics staff, and ourselves, (we) determined that it was a rare occurrence in the pool maintenance system that there was a release of an air bubble and within that bubble, there was an odour. It was an odour that's not normally smelled and when these folks that were using the pool in the immediate area received that odour, they reached out for some support and attention."

"It was just the whole pool area that was temporarily evacuated until we could thoroughly investigate, ensure that everything was working properly, which it was. Everything was normal, just for some unforeseen reason, this little bump happened that caused this temporary odour complaint."

With everything working properly, Rabel said that this was an extremely rare occurrence.

"It seems like it was a one-off, it was a rare incident. The pool staff were very thorough and comprehensive in their investigation and ongoing evaluation of all the maintenance and the infrastructure and the water quality. Nothing had really changed at all, so they kept the pool out of service until approximately 12:30, and now it's open for public again."

Four swimmers were admitted to hospital, but for minor respiratory issues.

"Alberta Health Services did assess people on the scene. Three children and one adult were transported, as a precaution, to both (hospital) for further analysis or to have the medical staff evaluate them. But, they are stable and it was for minor respiratory irritation."

The Genesis Place pool area reopened at 12:30 pm.

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