Vallejo Firefighters Treat Entire Family Overcome by CO

A family narrowly avoided succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning at their Vallejo home Thursday night.

Two woman and a young child were exposed to carbon monoxide levels about eight times what is considered the maximum exposure level for the gas, said Bill Tweedy, a spokesman for the Vallejo Fire Department.

“When you get up in that high range, it wouldn’t take long to succumb to carbon monoxide,” Tweedy said.

An emergency call to police at about 9:33 p.m. only reported an apparent medical illness.

Vallejo firefighters who arrived first to the 500 block of Cypress Avenue noticed some irregularity with the apparent sickness the home’s 61-year-old and 43-year-old women were experiencing, fire officials said.

Although carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, other discharges from the natural gas heating appliance that were not properly combusting did cause a suspicious odor, Tweedy said.

A 3-year-old boy also was experiencing the effects of the carbon monoxide poisoning, but was being cared for by neighbors, Tweedy said.

The apparent cause of the poisonous discharge was a faulty wall heater, Tweedy said.

Story by Times-Herald online