Suffolk, NY – Five residents of a Bay Shore home were hospitalized in serious condition after they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes likely caused by a generator operating indoors, Suffolk police said Saturday.
Two Suffolk police officers who responded late Friday to the home on Brentwood Road were treated at a hospital and released, a police spokeswoman said.
In addition, 13 Bay Shore firefighters were treated by EMS at the scene for minor exposure to carbon monoxide, Fire Chief Brian Butler said.
Police and fire department officials responded to the house about 11:40 p.m. Friday after an occupant called 911 and said there was a strange smell indoors and that people were having difficulty breathing.
When police arrived, they discovered five adults experiencing symptoms related to carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said.
The occupants were taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore and Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip for treatment. All five were listed Saturday in serious condition.
Suffolk police said a generator was operating in the home, which did not have electricity, and is being investigated as a possible cause of the carbon monoxide.
Butler said the carbon monoxide levels were so high in the home that they maxed out the readers used to detect the fumes.
PSEG Long Island spokesman Jeff Weir described the incident as “tragic,” but said he could not comment on the electric account for the home.
Weir said residents should never operate a generator inside a home.
Butler, the fire chief, said electricity was cut off to the home May 19.
Neighbors said the two-story home had more than one family living inside. Jason Greco, 34, who lives nearby, said he recently saw some of the residents carrying a generator into the house.
“It was a packed house,” Greco said. “They said that the electricity got turned off so they were running the generator all the time. I thought they knew you had to be careful with it, not run it in a closed space.”
Another neighbor, Francine Santana, said she saw people being carried out of the house and into ambulances.
“They looked woozy, like they were sick. Just out of it,” she said. “It was really scary because there were so many people in there.”