Lock Haven, PA – A carbon monoxide leak in the apartments attached to a laundromat on the 100 block of North Fairview Street sent 10 people to the hospital on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., said Norm Wolfrom, deputy fire chief of Lock Haven Fire Department.
Although carbon monoxide had been leaking for three or four days into the four apartments, the residents did not discover the problem until their suspicions led them to buy a carbon monoxide detector Saturday. It went off in every apartment, Wolfrom said.
Those residents went to the Lock Haven Fire Department and reported the problem. When Wolfrom heard their symptoms-headaches, drowsiness, nausea-the fire department called ambulances to take them to the hospital.
The firefighters responded to the site wearing self-contained breathing apparatuses, and their tests confirmed the leak, Wolfrom said. They turned off the power and gas, along with the furnace and the dryers.
Wolfrom believes the source of the leak to be a faulty furnace.
The fire department returned to their station at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Wolfrom advises the public to use carbon monoxide detectors in their places of residence.
HazMat 35, Lock Haven EMS and ambulance and Flemington ambulance also responded to the scene.