Allentown, PA – A bird nest built over the summer in the chimney of an Allentown home caused a potentially lethal buildup of carbon monoxide in three homes Wednesday, fire officials said.
Allentown fire crews were dispatched around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday to the 1300 block of Turner Street after a woman came home to find her carbon monoxide detector going off, fire Capt. John Christopher said. Readings in the home showed 800 parts per million of carbon monoxide, levels that can lead to nausea, dizziness and loss of consciousness within two hours, Christopher said.
Fire crews detected levels of carbon monoxide throughout the street and evacuated six homes, Christopher said. He said the problem was in the woman’s neighbor’s home at 1332 Turner St., where firefighters found carbon monoxide levels of 900 parts per million.
Christopher said the tenants in that home used the heater for the first time Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, but a bird nest in the chimney was “basically blocking the exhaust.”
A man was in the third floor of the home, but wasn’t injured, he said. Christopher said high levels of carbon monoxide were also found at 1334 and 1336 Turner St.
Christopher said the incident emphasizes the importance of carbon monoxide detectors. While smoke detectors are required in homes, there is no code that enforces carbon monoxide detector possession. He said a detector can cost from $25 to $45.
He said the home where the problem was had no carbon monoxide detector, and it was fortunate that the neighbor had one.
“If this happens at 11 p.m., we would have had three homes with potentially fatal atmospheres,” he said. “You go to sleep in an 800 part per million environment, you are probably not going to wake up.”