Dec 18, 2008 11:00 am US/Central
7 Sickened In Albany Park Carbon Monoxide Leak
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Five adults and two children were hospitalized in serious to critical condition early Thursday in a carbon monoxide leak in the Albany Park neighborhood.
CBS
Five adults and two children were hospitalized after a carbon monoxide leak in their Albany Park apartment Thursday morning on the Northwest Side.
About 6:20 a.m. an EMS Plan 1 was initiated for a gas leak at 3652 W. Lawrence Ave., sending five ambulances, according to Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford.
Initially, responding paramedics found four people unconcious. A total of five adults and two children were taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Swedish Covenant Hospital, Resurrection Medical Center and Weiss Memorial Hospital, respectively -- all in serious condition. All seven people were conscious prior to being transported, Langford said.
The victims' ages and genders were not immediately available. Five other people refused medical treatment on the scene.
A broken furnace in a third floor closet caused carbon monoxide levels to rise in the building, and carbon monoxide detectors failed to alert residents because their batteries were dead, Langford said. Peoples Energy said the cause is under investigation.
Illinois law requires working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in all units of an apartment building.
Carbon monoxide levels in the top-floor apartment were about 500 parts per million, Langford said.
"Those levels would have been lethal if not discovered, and would have led to multiple deaths," Langford said.
The building has a restaurant on the first floor and single apartments on both the second and third floors, Langford said. Chuy's Chicken restaurant is located at that address. It was five people from the second-floor apartment, which had much lower carbon monoxide levels, who refused treatment, Langford said.
Carbon monoxide poisoning begins with headaches and nausea and can lead to unconsciousness and death. Carbon monoxide causes poisoning by excluding oxygen in the bloodstream.
At 7:30 a.m., the gas was turned off to the building and Peoples Gas was on the scene. Bonnie Johnson, a spokeswoman for the gas company, said the gas has been shut off to the two apartments and storefront property at the Lawrence address but the cause of the leak is under investigation.
Lawrence Avenue was blocked between Hamlin and Central Park avenues as crews secured the scene.
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