Ionia, MI – A family of seven is in the hospital after carbon monoxide filled their house overnight Thursday.
The Ionia Department of Public Safety was called to the home on Hall St. just before 1 a.m.
The family called 911 when all of them felt sick.
Officers arrived and read the gas meter. It detected carbon monoxide and a reading of 400 parts per million was obtained. Sustained exposure over 150 ppm can cause death.
The two adults and five children were immediately evacuated and taken by ambulance to Sparrow-Ionia Hospital.
The source of the carbon monoxide was a malfunctioning furnace.
There were no working carbon monoxide detectors in the house. The family only woke up because one of the children fell out of bed and started crying. While tending to the child, other family members realized they didn’t feel well either. That’s when they called 911.
Ionia police said on their Facebook page, this incident had a good outcome, but if that child had not fallen out of bed and began crying, there is a great chance that not everyone would have survived.