Midwest Furfest 2014

[klhanson]

Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers at Midwest Furfest 2014. We had a major chlorine gas leak at the hotel and over 4000 attendees were evacuated into the nearby convention center. Anywhere between 15-30 people were hospitalized due to several health issues over the course of 4 hours.

[Mishi]

Oh good grief, hope everyone ends up being okay.

[Kara]

That' s no good

[Fire_on_High]

I have a friend who was there...said there was major communications issues, ppl were only finding out via personal FBs what was going on and that they needed to get out, etc.

[TheSHAD0W]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...207-story.html

[MoonCat]

Wait, that was done INTENTIONALLY? WTH?

[klhanson]

Yeah.. it was done intentionally

[Gilhelmi]

I really hope that this was an accident, but I suspect it is intentional. I would hate to see an added layer of security paranoia.

I will keep the injured in my prays tonight.

[Crossbow]

The incident is still under investigation, but the police are treating it as a criminal act currently. That may change, of course. Right now, there's still too much that isn't known.

Bonus points to the Doubletree and the Convention Center for opening their doors to the attendees so they could keep warm.


I have a number of friends that were at the con, so I got a fair bit of info through Twitter...

[Buzzard]

Powdered chlorine on the 9th floor stairwell. Yeah, that's not in the accident realm. Hope this guy was nice enough to get caught well on cameras.

[klhanson]

They apparently dont have cameras in the stairwells.. One of my friends was directly affected and they questioned him for a while about it

[Gilhelmi]

It could still, theoretically be an accident. If the hotel has a pool, If the chlorine needed to be brought through that stairwell, If proper safety procedures were not followed.

But ya, there are getting to be too many "IFs". But I will wait for the investigation to be finished.

[Gilhelmi]

I just looked up the latest. Not good.

They have pretty much ruled out "accidental" at this point. One source said the chlorine had been in a glass jar. In my experience, the only time someone keeps that kind of chemical, in that type of container, in that type location; it almost always means an attack.

I hope they catch the bastards.

[Victory Sabre]

I've stayed at that hotel, and don't even remember them having a pool. And if there is one, it sure as hell isn't on the 9th floor. There's just rooms on that floor, in both room areas.

[klhanson]

they dont have a pool at all.. accidental has been ruled out and they are interviewing people at the moment to find out more information.