Bridgeport, CT – It was a happy reunion Friday, as Keniasha Reid met for the first time the man who probably saved her life.
Thank you, Reid said outside her home. Thank you, thank God. I’m happy.
It was a cold January morning in Bridgeport. Reid came home from working the graveyard shift, cranked up the heat and laid down for some well-deserved sleep. Little did she know, her furnace malfunctioned, spewing carbon monoxide which is a colorless and odorless gas. Her neighbor smelled something coming from the faulty furnace and called Southern Connecticut Gas Company.
That’s when Service Technician Steven Raynor, showed up to check it out.
So I went downstairs and checked the furnace, Raynor said. Heard the noise that her furnace was making. A loud noise through the wall (of the duplex).
Raynor acted fast, making his way to the house next door where Reid was upstairs still sound asleep. Carbon monoxide readings were at deadly levels inside her home.
Knocked on the door and didn’t get an answer, Raynor said. Checked (the readings) through the crack in the door and they were in excess of 400 parts per million. Very high reading.
Raynor called Bridgeport Fire Department, who made their way into the house by a side window. Reid was still sleeping when they found her, unaware that the house was filling up with poisonous gas.
If anybody believes in God, whether they do or don’t, I know I do, Reid said.
Reid did not have a carbon monoxide detector in her home. As soon as she left the hospital she bought one. She’s now much more aware of the dangers facing her two young children, and the mother they need.
I went to all my family members houses and checked and asked do you (carbon monoxide detectors)? Reid said. Because I don’t want anyone to ever have to go through that. That was scary.
The moral of the story is to make sure your house is equipped with a carbon monoxide detector. It could be the difference between life and death. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas.