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MONROE, Sevier County — Twenty-two people were transported to the hospital in Sevier County for carbon monoxide poisoning on Sunday.
According to a release provided by the Sevier County Sheriff's Office, officials responded to two medical calls at the Monroe East Chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Monroe.
The first involved a 4-year-old girl who was having breathing problems. However, because she had been sick earlier in the week, her symptoms were believed to be from the earlier illness.
A man was also feeling sick and thought he was having low blood sugar complications. The man sought treatment on his own.
When another family reported all having headaches when they arrived home from church, the Monroe City Fire Department was called to check the building to check for carbon monoxide.
The fire department found higher levels of carbon monoxide in the church and the building was evacuated.
Later Sunday evening, several individuals reported being ill and sought treatment at Sevier Valley Hospital.
"In all, 22 individuals were needing to be transported to hospitals out of the area for carbon monoxide poisoning treatment. This required 10 ambulance transports to get everyone to a hospital that had a hyperbaric chamber that could treat the patients," the release stated.
Because Sevier County EMS did not have enough ambulances to transport the impacted people, other agencies were contacted and assisted in hospital transports.
Additionally, several individuals who were not as critical were able to transport themselves.
"All of these transfers were done while still responding to other medical calls, including a pursuit with a crash and a CD all to an unresponsive individual. Thanks to all the agencies, especially those EMT's who sacrificed their holiday to make this happen," the release stated. "It took a lot of coordination between the EMS agencies, the hospitals, and even the local Bureau of EMS liaison to make it all happen. The last ambulance was back from the final transfer at 10:00 AM this morning. Some of the Ambulance crews made more than one trip."
The exact cause of the carbon monoxide poisoning has not been discovered.
