Imperial, NE – Beeping carbon monoxide detectors forced an Imperial, Nebraska, family from their home early Christmas morning.
The Imperial Republican reports that a heating/air conditioning technician determined that a back draft in the fireplace chimney set off the detectors in the home of Logan and Brianna Pribbeno, who left the house with their 7-month-old daughter and Brianna’s parents after the alarms went off in the wee morning hours of Christmas day.
The family spent the night with relatives in Imperial.
Aaron Troxell of Troxell’s Heating and Air Conditioning said that new windows in the house are so tight that the house isn’t “breathing,” and flue gases in the fireplace were being forced down into the gas furnace.
Logan Pribbeno said the house has two carbon monoxide detectors, one upstairs and one in the basement.
Fire Chief Nick Schultz said the ideal CO reading should be zero parts per million. The Pribbeno house wavered between 24 and 28 ppm.