Elk County, PA – Paramedics say a scare involving deadly odorless gas sent a Ridgway mom and daughter to the hospital. We have more on how they’re doing tonight.
Firefighters say two people were taken to the hospital after there were concerns about high levels of carbon monoxide inside an upstairs apartment.
“The fire department came here and asked if there was any problems with fumes and I said no because we hadn’t smelled anything,” says downstairs resident Mary Hyatt.
Paramedics say a woman and her 7-year-old daughter were given oxygen using masks after a C.O. detector woke them up around 6 a.m. on Friday.
“My son kept hearing beeping, there was beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep,” says Hyatt.
“The mother was sick but we’re not sure if she was just anxious or if it was part of the carbon monoxide poisoning but they were treated,” says Ridgway Ambulance senior paramedic Thor Lehman.
Assistant fire chief Ray Imhof says they did find a high level of C.O. in the Sherman Avenue apartment, but they aren’t sure where the leak is.
“They had our furnace off yesterday for a while while they worked on it. There was a venting problem I guess, but the gas company came right in and turned it back on. There was no problems at all last night,” says Hyatt.
After checking on Friday, Hyatt got a work slip saying “found 2,000 part per million when furnace was running.”
“Now they’re working on it again, but we honestly never had any problems until they were digging up the driveway yesterday,” says Hyatt.
She says her neighbor had reported similar problems for about two months.
“Probably every other week they have been here with meters and stuff taking tests of each room. She’s called in different times saying there was fumes that were really overwhelming,” says Hyatt.
Meantime, there’s work out in the street and next to the home.
“Digging stuff up, moving stuff around. They’re running new gas lines,” says neighbor Dave Pontious.
“Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, so for somebody to have a carbon monoxide detector in their house is a very good thing, because you don’t know that it’s there,” says Lehman.
Paramedics say the two patients were treated and released from the hospital.