Swimmers caught up in the recent chemical spill in St Andrews have praised leisure centre staff on their return to the pool.
Debbie Munro, who was at East Sands Leisure Centre with her friend Duncan Meekison and his two-year-old daughter Eire Meekison, defended the response to the incident on August 25.
Reaction has been mixed among those involved in the drama, when sodium hypochlorite used to disinfect the pool leaked from a tank.
One family were scathing of the reaction of centre staff, describing them as disorganised.
But Ms Munro, from Cupar, said: “I myself was in the pool and I was the person seen carrying my friend’s two-year-old daughter to the ambulance.
“My friend was in the spectator area right next to where the bang happened and smelled the gas.
“The ambulance staff checked us all over and we were all safely kept together in the back of an ambulance until we were split up for the journey to hospital.
“At one point the paramedics brought bottles of water for us to the ambulance where we were all sitting.
“It could have been so much worse than it was. The fact that they dealt with it in the way they did made the experience un-traumatic for Duncan’s daughter, Eire, who is only two years of age and today is only talking about the firemen helping daddy and asking to go swimming again.
“We cannot praise the staff highly enough and they are a credit to the leisure centre. This will not put us off going back again, as we are more than satisfied that we are in safe hands if anything else should happen.”
Ms Munro and Eire have been back to enjoy a swim, in stark contrast to the scene on August 25, when emergency vehicles filled the centre car park and those inside the building wore hazmat suits instead of swimsuits. Five children and 14 adults were taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and treated for minor respiratory problems.
Allan Reid, area leisure manager for Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, said: “The events of last week were extremely rare, but it is a credit to staff that they acted so professionally and followed procedures so that all customers were escorted out of the building safely before emergency services were on-site.
“We’ve had lots of positive comments from local customers and we’d like to thank them for their support.”