Pattenburg, NJ – UNION TWP. A leaking wood stove pipe and a blocked chimney resulted in carbon monoxide (CO) fumes sickening two people, their cat and their dog here Wednesday morning.
Volunteers from Pattenburg Fire Company and other agencies responded to the call for help which came in around 5:40 a.m. Fire Chief Dan Van Fossen said on opening the front door of the house, his carbon monoxide meter showed a high level of the poisonous gas.
Pattenburg Fire and Rescue units both have pet oxygen masks on their apparatus and used them to treat the dog and cat, Van Fossen noted.
A man and his girlfriend live in the house on Main Street in Pattenburg. The 911 call came from woman’s daughter, who had come there from Pennsylvania to help the couple after the woman was taken to the hospital two days earlier and then released. Apparently she was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning then but nobody realized that, Van Fossen said.
When he arrived at the house the woman and her daughter were both outside but the man, “who thought he had the flu,” was back inside, the chief said. And the both their cat and their dog were dazed “and acting weird,” he added.
Because of the number of victims, the Quakertown, Clinton, Milford and High Bridge fire companies as well as Pattenburg and Clinton rescue squads were also dispatched. Some of them were diverted from another call at about the same time, which turned out to be a false alarm, the chief said.
Paramedics from Hunterdon Medical Center also responded to the house. The man and woman were treated at the scene and taken by ambulance to the hospital.
The dog and the cat were also taken for treatment by ambulance, but to Crown Veterinary in Clinton Township, which is open 24 hours for emergencies.
Van Fossen said the emergency is a good “reminder to have CO detectors installed and working.” Firefighters found a hole, big enough to put a finger in, in a basement pipe connected to the wood stove. Based on the size of the hole, he figures it was there a long time. A build-up of soot in the chimney eventually got so extensive that fumes couldn’t escape and instead came out through the hole, when went up into the living quarters, he said.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas produced by burning material containing carbon. Extreme poisoning can cause brain damage and death. Lower levels can result in flu-like symptoms, experts say.
Three Hunterdon residents died from the fumes from electric generators after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and an October snowstorm the year before resulted in extensive, lengthy power outages.
The carbon monoxide reading in the house was around 350 parts per million, Van Fossen reported. That’s considered medium exposure and will produce dizziness, drowsiness and vomiting in as little as one hour, according to experts. This level of exposure is deemed to be life-threatening once three hours has passed.
The most-common carbon monoxide sources in the typical household are:
Furnace (natural gas, propane, oil, wood)
Fireplace (gas, wood, coal)
Stove (gas, wood)