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PROVO — A Latter-day Saint ward meetinghouse was evacuated late Sunday morning due to carbon monoxide that leaked from a boiler, according to officials.
"At 11:06 am Station 22 was dispatched to a medical call at a church," read a Facebook post from Provo Fire and Rescue. "While en route the call was upgraded to a medical/carbon monoxide (CO) alarm."
"Upon arrival they had numerous people that were feeling sick," according to Provo fire spokeswoman Jeanie Atherton. "We immediately noticed that the church had quite a bit of carbon monoxide built up in it. ... Everyone was evacuated."
The carbon monoxide was linked to a boiler in the church at 650 E. Stadium Avenue, Atherton said. Due to the church being an older building, it did not have a carbon monoxide detector.
Dominion Energy was also called to evaluate the meetinghouse.
Most of those affected were teenage girls in a young women's class.
Family members of the victims said that approximately 13 people went to the hospital to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. One person was transported to the hospital via ambulance to Utah Valley Hospital, while many others went by personal vehicle. In addition, eight people were transported to Intermountain Medical Center for hyperbaric treatment, Atherton said.
It is unclear whether the carbon monoxide in the meetinghouse has been fully cleared out.
Contributing: Tania Dean, KSL TV
Editor's note: A previous version of this story referred to the energy company as Questar. This story has been updated to state the correct name of the company.
