Mission – On Tuesday, the District of Mission closed the spray park located at the Mission Leisure Centre following an incident that required emergency care for children and staff.
“Everyone at the District of Mission is shocked that a terrible incident involving children could happen at our spray park,” said Mayor Pam Alexis. “Our thoughts are with the children and families impacted.”
Once notified the Parks, Recreation & Culture staff responded immediately and administered first aid, called EMS and have since cleaned the equipment, pressure washed and irrigated the area. Mission Fire Rescue Service attended the scene with paramedics.
Our Public Works crews were also on site to test the water source and confirmed it was safe. Incident reports have been completed at the Leisure Centre.
An investigation is currently underway involving WorkSafeBC and Mission RCMP. The Mission RCMP are requesting if anyone has information related to this case to contact the Mission RCMP at 604-826-7161 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Read their statement on the RCMP website.
On July 14th, 2020 at around noon, the Mission RCMP were called to the Mission Leisure Centre located at 7650 Grand Street for a report of an issue at the spray park. Several children and parents were having a reaction, including but not limited to burning and redness of the skin, to an unknown substance on or around the spray park equipment. The spray park was shut down immediately. Mission Fire Rescue and BC Ambulance Service attended and treated those affected by the substance. One individual attended the hospital but was released shortly after.
An investigation has been initiated into the incident. The Mission RCMP are currently working with the District of Mission to determine the origin of the substance. The District of Mission conducted a test of the water shortly after the incident was reported. No irregularities were found in the water, including the chlorine levels. The District of Mission has closed the spray park until further notice. The Mission RCMP Victim Services team has been engaged to reach out to those affected.
“At this point, we can’t confirm what the substance is. We are currently looking at all avenues including engaging our Integrated Forensic Identification Services to identify the substance and it’s origin,” says Corporal Nathan Berze of the Mission RCMP.
The Mission RCMP are requesting that if anyone has any information about this incident, to contact the Mission RCMP Detachment at 604-826-7161 or report anonymously through Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at SOLVECRIME.CA.
Spray Park Backgrounder:
- The spray park was re-opened 10 days ago after the COVID-19 shutdown and has been working safely.
- The water that supplies the spray park is from the municipal drinking water system and is not connected to the pool in any way. The water is also not re-circulated.
