Lincoln, NE – One person has died and three other people were hospitalized after carbon monoxide apparently reached deadly concentrations inside a north Lincoln home early Wednesday, according to police.
Police were withholding the name of the 56-year-old Lincoln man who died after being found unconscious in a mobile home by his family. His 38-year-old son, 26-year-old niece and 4-year-old grandson are expected to recover.
Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews were called to the home at 37th Street and Cornhusker Highway just after 3 a.m., Lincoln Police Officer Angela Sands said.
As crews were doing CPR on the man, the alarm sounded on a carbon monoxide detector attached to their medical bag, so they called for more help and evacuated everyone, Battalion Chief Jim Bopp said.
A Black Hills Energy crew determined the gas buildup stemmed from a ventilation problem in the water heater that circulated exhaust back into the home, Sands said.
Measurements indicated levels of the odorless, colorless gas had reached 400 parts per million, she added.
Most household detectors will sound at 30 ppm, but levels above 70 ppm can bring symptoms considered dangerous to human health with prolonged exposure, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Earlier in the night, the man and his girlfriend had been feeling ill and light-headed, vomiting, experiencing tingling and numbness in their limbs and were lethargic, Sands said.
Both had medical problems so they suspected their symptoms were related, she added.
But after 11 p.m., the woman, 75, had a family member take her to the hospital.
The 56-year-old man called family over but said he had been feeling better.
Around 3 a.m. he had a seizure and lost consciousness. An autopsy has been ordered.
“These people were exposed for who knows how long to very high levels of carbon monoxide, which explains their symptoms,” Lincoln Fire and Rescue Chief Micheal Despain said.
Despain said his crews had not initially heard the chirping of the alarm as they were treating the man, but as its readings elevated the alarm rang out louder and louder until it topped out at 200 ppm.
Another more powerful detector was brought in to assess the actual levels of gas in the home, he said.
This marks the third time since his department acquired the palm-size monitors last year that they have rang out during a call, and the levels in this call were the highest they’ve detected, Despain said.
He sought to outfit his medical crews with them after a previous carbon monoxide-related death, he said.
The tragedy, he said, serves as a reminder of the importance of having carbon monoxide detectors, and he recommended that residences have them on each floor.
The mobile home did not have a working carbon monoxide detector.