A pool cleaner was hospitalized Friday after inhaling fumes from an accidental mixture of muriatic acid and chlorine at Presidio Golf & Concordia Club in San Francisco. Fire Capt. Mariano Elias said the worker was breathing in the fumes around 12:48 p.m. while working on the jacuzzi hot tub in the clubhouse.
The call sent the San Francisco Fire Department to the golf course for a hazardous material cleanup, and officials said the worker was in stable condition. The mix involved a 55-gallon drum that was outdoors when the incident happened, a detail that underscored the oddity of the injury: the chemicals were outside, but the fumes still reached him as he worked. The fire department urged residents and nearby businesses to avoid the area and follow instructions from emergency workers.
The response was still visible later in the day. At 3:40 p.m., the fire department posted photos of its work at the golf course, and by about 4:30 p.m. SkyFOX flew over the scene after crews had already left. The Department of Public Health then took over once the material was contained and was set to dispose of it properly.
The golf course sits at the edge of Presidio Terrace at Arguello Boulevard, in one of San Francisco’s wealthier enclaves. Information for the story came from a social media post by the San Francisco Fire Department and reporting from Bay City News. The unanswered part is the simplest one: how muriatic acid and chlorine were mixed during the jacuzzi hot tub work in the first place.
