Three people survive carbon monoxide scare

Papillion, NE – A terrifying start to the day happened when three people were rushed to the hospital from their home Thursday, sick with carbon monoxide poisoning. Firefighters said a car left running overnight in the garage was the culprit. Capt. Brian O’Shea of the Papillion Fire Department said that’s not uncommon. “You forget the car is running in the garage or the kid accidentally hits the remote start — that happens quite a bit, also,” said O’Shea. The family was lucky and after treatment with hyperbaric oxygen and an overnight stay at the hospital they’re OK, but unfortunately that’s not always the case. “At high levels you can be found unconscious and even die from it,” said O’Shea. But prevention is easy. “Detectors are relatively cheap. It’s a great insurance policy in case something does go wrong in the house, whether it’s a furnace, hot water heater, gas fire place or even your gas stove,” said O’Shea. But just like smoke detectors, you can’t just set them and forget them. “A good rule of thumb is, just like every year when you change your batteries in your smoke detector, if you have a battery-operated CO detector, change your batteries,” said O’Shea. And make sure everyone in the family knows if you hear the sound of the alarm, get outside, call 911 and have the fire department come and make sure everything is safe.