Kansas City, MO – It was roughly 10:30 a.m. when Kansas City, Missouri emergency crews were called to this Buca di Beppo on the Country Club Plaza, with reports of people feeling dizzy and ill.
With their detectors reading off-the-chart numbers, firefighters knew right away the problem was carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a colorless, odorless gas that can be fatal.
“Anything above 10 is a dangerous level in parts per million for CO and we were getting 300 parts per million and above,” said Nino Bruno, Kansas City Fire Department battalion chief.
“The dangers is you could become dizzy, unconscious and actually die,” said Bruno.
Five employees were inside at the time. Three were taken to the hospital where we were told they are now recovering and “doing well.”
Missouri Gas Energy told 41 Action News the cause of the gas emergency were ventilation issues with two kitchen appliances. However, those issues may stem from a greater lack of oversight.
A 311 complaint filed just yesterday to the Kansas City Health Department claim a variety of unsanitary issues in the kitchen. Records show the health department performed two emergency inspections Wednesday, one before the CO emergency and another after, finding three critical violations and three non-critical violations.
Those violations included gnats or fruit flies in the food prep area and bar. Officials also found grease and food build-up on the grill top.
Buca Di Beppo told 41 Action News they are assessing the health code violations and also sent us this statement:
“Missouri Gas and Energy is currently on site investigating what happened.
All our efforts at the moment are focused on making sure our employees are healthy and assisting Missouri Gas and Energy in any way we can to find the source of the problem and fix it immediately.
Buca Kansas City Plaza will re-open once everything is repaired and inspections have been completed.”
The restaurant will reopen at 5 p.m. Thursday night.
The Kansas City Health Department, again, still plans on investigating the restaurant within the next two days.
As for the carbon monoxide, KCFD told us there was no alarm in the restaurant. There is no state law mandating carbon monoxide alarms.