Waukegan, IL – Two adults were in critical condition Thursday after a mechanical failure of a boiler left their Waukegan home filled with carbon monoxide.
The man and woman, who live in a two-story apartment in the 3000 block of Norma Lane, required rescue from Flight For Life. They were flown to a hospital just after 11 a.m., said Battalion Chief George Bridges of the Waukegan Fire Department.
“Carbon monoxide is very dangerous,” Bridges said. “It affects children first. The smaller or younger you are, it affects them first.”
He said initial readings were 800 parts per million.
“Anything over 35 parts per million is an immediate danger to life,” Bridges said. “CO detectors should be outside every bedroom in every residence.”
Waukegan’s building department also was called to the scene. Fire prevention investigators found the source of the deadly gas, reporting that a boiler in the apartment building had a mechanical malfunction.
The incident remains under investigation and it’s unknown if the building had CO detectors.
Three other people were treated at the scene and released.