Safety tips reiterated as family suffers carbon monoxide poisoning

Team CoverageA West Jordan family was poisoned by carbon monoxide, but all lived to tell the tale.

It happened early this morning when the homeowner woke up feeling dizzy. Five of the nine residents were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

We spoke to the homeowner, and he told us that he didn't have any carbon monoxide detectors in his home. Luckily, he woke up in time to evacuate his family.

West Jordan Assistant Fire Chief Marc McElreath said, "Our crews went inside the home to monitor and get a reading of what the CO level was in the house. When they got to the basement area, the average readings were around 250 parts per million," For comparison, normal would be about 9 parts per million.

Questar was at the home earlier this morning, and it said the problem originated from a leaking furnace. "If there's a crack, then some of the combustion byproducts can mix with the air that circulates into the home and cause a problem," explained Questar spokesman Darren Shepherd.

Questar says another issue adding to the problem was improper ventilation. "The vents that supply fresh air for the furnace to operate properly were blocked, and so that made it difficult for the furnace to operate properly as well," Shepherd said.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are nausea, headaches and dizziness. All can lead to suffocation if you don't get out in time.

Because carbon monoxide is an odorless gas, Questar officials recommend getting carbon monoxide detectors. But first and foremost, they say get your appliances, like furnaces, inspected annually.

We talked to Lee's Heating and Cooling about those inspections. The company says they can run between $60 and $70, a small price to pay to make sure your home is safe.

"We're checking the whole system, not just, say, the furnace. We're checking around the furnace to make sure things are OK. We're checking the flue, we're checking combustion air, we're checking the gas line to make sure there's no leaks in the gas and to make your system safe," explained Tony Oakman, with Lee's Heating and Cooling.

Inspectors say there are some things you can do at home as well. They say make sure your furnace and all vents are unobstructed--remove all papers, junk and insulation that may get in the way of proper ventilation.

As for the family, fire officials tell us they refused to be taken to the hospital because they don't have insurance and were worried about the cost. But authorities felt they really needed to be looked at, so they arranged to have some neighbors and police officers on the scene take them to a nearby hospital.

We're told all are back home tonight.

For more information on carbon monoxide, click the related link.

E-mail: lprichard@ksl.com
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com

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