Approximately 50 people were evacuated from an Oklahoma hotel after an explosion occurred in the pool room.
The incident took place at an Embassy Suites in Tulsa on January 24 and resulted in three injuries. First responders believed the explosion was caused by over-pressurization of a chemical container. “We had a hazmat incident here at the hotel,” said Tulsa Fire Department Captain Tim Halowell. “What we believed happened was an over pressurization of some kind of chemical container in the pool room. We had one injury that drove himself to urgent care. We’re not sure of the extent of his injuries. We evacuated the entire hotel. We had two other patients transported. We consider them green patients and then we had three other patients sign refusals, meaning they didn't want to go to the hospital.”
Halowell said they were lucky — it could have been a lot worse.
“Luckily this one was not too bad,” Halowell said. “The room that exploded in was basically on the outside of the building, not in the interior of the building, so it wasn't as bad as it could've been.”
Guests were allowed to return to their rooms after a couple of hours.