Peachtree Corners, GA – Hundreds of hotel guests had to find a new place to sleep Monday night after a carbon monoxide leak sickened several employees at a Gwinnett County hotel.
The fire inspector cut off the gas and sealed the boiler room of the Hilton Atlanta Northeast off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard until they can figure out where the carbon monoxide leak is coming from.
The leak sickened seven employees and caused an evacuation of hundreds of people at the hotel.
I took off went to the gym and came back been waiting for an hour and half now,” said hotel guest Jeff Schroeder
It’s frustrating I guess but no big deal. I’ve got some coworkers to hang out with and laugh about it,” said Josh Hagen.
A Hilton employee told Channel 2’s Liz Artz that the hotel does have carbon monoxide detectors, but Gwinnett County Fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said it was employees who alerted them to the problem.
(They were) feeling ill since early this morning and that got worse,” Rutledge said.
Rutledge said the leak was coming from multiple sources, likely in the boiler room of the hotel.
The fire inspector shut off gas for the night and sealed off the boiler room, but deemed the rooms safe for any guest who wanted to stay without hot water.
“We are prepared to over flow the local hotels,” said Hilton Spokesman Bruce Johnson.
Johnson said he’s been preparing neighboring Hiltons for additional guests. Shroeder said me he’s staying put.
I’ll probably camp it out right here,” Schroeder said.
Firefighters remained at the hotel late Monday night.
Rutledge said technicians and engineers will have to further isolate the leak and then take measures to permanently fix the problem.