POUGHKEEPSIE – City of Poughkeepsie firefighters, assisted by numerous other agencies, worked in assessing potential patients after a furnace malfunction filled a four-story apartment building with carbon monoxide on Sunday. Nine tenants were treated at local hospitals.
The potentially deadly situation came to light after a man took his four children to Vassar Brothers Medical Center (VBMC) with complaints that they were all feeling ill. After a battery of tests Sunday afternoon, VBMC notified City of Poughkeepsie 911 that all five patients were suffering from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
The fire department responded to 4 Roosevelt Avenue, where the patients live, and began checking the air quality, while also evacuating the tenants of the 14 apartments in the building.
On the top floor, carbon monoxide readings indicated a deadly level of the gas at 1,000 parts per million (ppm). The EPA level for carbon monoxide considered safe in a living space is 35 ppm, with an upper limit of 229 ppm, due to the cardiovascular effects of the gas.
Firefighters were hampered in their ability to communicate with the tenants, who were mostly Spanish-speaking. The city’s fire department, along with the additional fire departments and ambulance personnel on the scene, do not speak Spanish.
EMS personnel tested the levels of CO in the residents, resulting in four additional people being transported to the hospital.
Firefighters, assisted by a natural gas crew from Central Hudson determined that a furnace malfunction created the deadly situation. While at the scene, a Mid-Hudson News reporter asked why the carbon monoxide detectors weren’t sounding alarms. One fire commander replied, “That’s one of the many issues that our investigators will be looking at.”
Poughkeepsie Fire Chief Joe Franco made contact with a principal of the building’s owner, LJ Management Group Inc., of Highland Mills. The owner told Chief Franco that he would have a plumber at the scene in the morning to assess the faulty furnace. A second conversation from a company representative indicated that he would be at the scene Sunday night.
Firefighters were joined at the scene by Mayor Rob Rolison and Councilwoman Yvonne Flowers. Both expressed gratitude to the first responders for preventing a disaster. Rolison used the opportunity to express the need for regularly checking alarms and detectors in all dwellings. “This could have been a tragic situation in the morning if the man didn’t take his family to the hospital today. People need to make sure the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working at their houses. It could save a life.”
A City of Poughkeepsie Fire Inspector and Building Inspector did a thorough check of the building to check the readings again after the furnace had been “locked out” and the building was ventilated. It was determined that residents who were unable to find lodging elsewhere could return to their apartments with the understanding that there would be no heat in the building until the problems identified by inspectors were repaired.
State law requires that heat must be supplied from October 1 through May 31 to tenants in multiple dwelling buildings. If the outdoor temperature falls below 55°F between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., each apartment must be heated to a temperature of at least 68°F. If the outdoor temperature falls below 40°F between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., each apartment must be heated to a temperature of at least 55°F.
Video of the scene:
