Chicago, IL- Melvin Greene didn’t have much to say about his brush with death after his South Side home filled with lethal levels of carbon monoxide.
“I’m fine,” the 79-year-old said Thursday morning, a day after he, his two daughters and a granddaughter passed out at his home in the 300 block of West 107th Street and were rushed to hospitals.
Carl Smith, husband of one of the daughters, had a little more to say.
“God had his hands on him,” Smith said. They all declined to talk more about their ordeal Wednesday evening.
Paramedics were dispatched about 8 p.m. after one of the daughters in the home called 911, officials said. They found the four unconscious on the living room floor and rushed them to three hospitals. They were all released by Thursday morning.
The levels of carbon monoxide were 1,000 parts per million, a “lethal” level, according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. “If we had found 50 parts per million we might evacuate … so 1,000, that is lethal,” he said.
Fire officials said they found the oven door open and all four stove burners on, heating pots of water as a makeshift humidifier, officials said. The furnace was on but malfunctioning, which is why the stove and burners were probably on, Fire Chief Tom Sutkus said.
“We highly recommend you don’t do that,” Sutkus told reporters at the scene. “If you have a problem with the furnace, please get the furnace checked. Get it serviced. Do not use your stove to heat the house. Do not use the burners. Do not use the oven.”
The home did not have a carbon monoxide detector, which is required by city ordinance, officials said.
I guess my grandfather was trying to fix things on his own. The furnace had been acting up for a while,” one relative said. “It was very scary. … I was just running from hospital to hospital to make sure everyone was alive.”
She said her grandfather returned to his home even though there is no heat.
“The house is cold … they busted out all the windows,” she said. “He’s very upset by this.”