Oak Brook, IL – An 84-year-old man has died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning at a home in a gated community in Oak Brook, officials said. Seven other people were injured, according to officials.
At a noontime news conference, Oak Brook Police Chief James Kruger said emergency responders found the man dead in a first-floor bathroom of the 15,000-square-foot home.
The leak was believed to have been in a room with an indoor pool, also on the first floor, Kruger said. The pool has a heater, but Kruger said it was not immediately known if the heater was the cause of the leak.
Carbon monoxide levels were as high as 1,000 parts per million, Fire Chief Gary Clark said. Safe levels are 35 ppm or lower.
We are continuing the investigation, Kruger said. There is no foul play expected at this point.
Police and fire personnel responded to a call at 9:46 a.m. of a woman having breathing problems in the 2900 block of Oak Brook Hills Road, Kruger said. They found seven women ranging in age from 20s to 70s with various health problems due to carbon monoxide. Some couldn’t breathe and others felt sick, he said.
All the victims were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. One person was released by 1:30 p.m. but the condition of the others was unknown, Clark said. A hospital spokeswoman would not release information.
Clark said some victims were related and others were domestic staff. Authorities did not release the names of the dead man or the injured women.
Public records show the massive home belongs to a dental surgeon and her husband, a gastroenterologist.
Staff at the office they share said neither were available for comment.
Clark said responders confronted language barriers when they first arrived but quickly determined the severity of the problem. Responders shut off the gas line and ventilated the house.
Clark said no carbon monoxide alarms were going off when emergency responders arrived. He said it was unknown at this time if the house was equipped with alarms, but he said his department responded to a false alarm from a carbon monoxide detector at the house in 2009. The current occupants lived at the home at the time.
He said the home is equipped with multiple furnaces and multiple water heaters. All were turned off by authorities.
Police blocked off access to the Oak Brook Hills Estate off of 31st street east of Meyers Road.