Family of 12 is doing OK after carbon monoxide poisoning on NYE
A family of 12 was rushed to the hospital Wednesday morning for carbon monoxide poisoning.
KRDO Newschannel 13’s Bonnie Silkman spoke with the father and husband, Tim English. He says he and his family have been treated and released from the hospital.
But the firefighters who rescued English and his family, say it was a close call.
“They’re very lucky. With the outcome that could have happened, this could have been very sad for the family and the whole community. We’re considering this a very close call,” said Brad Davidson, the Division Chief with Pueblo West Fire Department.
That close call began at the family’s home in Pueblo West.
“There have been fatalities from carbon monoxide from people going to sleep and not waking back up. It just shuts your body down slowly, and takes the oxygen away,” said Davidson.
Fortunately, one of the children did wake up when he was feeling sick. English and his family then realized everyone was feeling ill, and called 911.
“With the flu going around it could have been easily mistaken for the flu, so the parents were on top of it,” said Davidson.
Fire crews have gone inside of this home and inspected everything. They narrowed the problem down to a faulty furnace. But the furnace wasn’t the only problem they noticed inside; a carbon monoxide detector was nowhere to be found.
“Carbon monoxide detectors are just as important as smoke detectors. It’s called the silent killer for a reason, you cannot smell this gas,” said Davidson.
“The levels were very high so our guys had to put on their extra equipment,” said Davidson.
Fire crews hope this serves as a reminder to everyone to get their furnaces checked, and of course, make sure you have a working carbon monoxide detector.
