Tyrone Township, MI- Hartland Township firefighters rescued a Tyrone Township man who was “completely unconscious” in his home due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Fire Marshal Mike Bernardin of the Hartland Deerfield Fire Authority said the patient was last known to be in critical condition at a Toledo, Ohio, hospital, where he was placed in a hyperbaric chamber, which lets the body absorb more oxygen than is normally possible.
“He’s lucky to be alive,” Bernardin said Tuesday.
Bernardin could not identify the patient due to federal privacy laws. However, Special Ministries of Livingston County’s Facebook page identified the man as Cedar Butler, the son of a longtime staff member.
According to Special Ministries, Butler is “only responding by lifting fingers, but that is encouraging.”
Firefighters responded to the Tipsico Lake Road home around 1:30 p.m. Sunday to find two people in the home were able to walk out on their own while a third was unconscious in the basement, Bernardin said.
Firefighters were able to bring that man to safety, and Livingston County EMS transported him to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. There, he was stabilized and then transferred to a Toledo hospital.
A fourth person in the home appeared to be unaffected and was treated at the scene, Bernardin said.
A leak in the furnace unit possibly caused the CO poisoning and CO alarms could have provided an early warning to the home’s occupants, Bernardin said.
“We’re not sure where in the unit the leak came from, but we think it came from the heating unit,” he said.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is an illness caused by exposure to too much carbon monoxide a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas and too much carbon monoxide in the air you breathe can greatly diminish your ability to absorb oxygen, leading to serious tissue damage and death, according to information from the Mayo Clinic.
Firefighters installed a CO alarm and smoke detectors in the home.
Fire officials recommend installing at least one CO alarm in the home, but they suggest one alarm per level by sleeping areas, according to the fire squad’s Facebook page.
Bernardin said it is important to ensure that chimneys are swept and the furnace has been properly maintained.
“A little bit of prevention can go a long way,” he said.