Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Carbon Monoxide Fumes Send 12 Skokie Residents to 4 Area Hospitals

Residents aged 4 to 94 were transported to local hospitals after high carbon monoxide levels sickened some this morning.

Updated 2:31 p.m.:
A total of 25 rescue personnel responded to the high carbon monoxide fumes at a multi-family apartment building early Thursday morning at 8030 Keating, according to the Skokie Fire Department.

Mutual aid alarms were issued, bringing personnel from Lincolnwood (Ambulance 15), Morton Grove (Ambulance 4) and Wilmette (Ambulance 27).

Initially, one person called to request help from one of the apartments in the five unit, two-story building, according to a release from Skokie Fire Chief Ralph Czerwinski.

"Fire Department environmental meters determined that CO was present throughout the building and full evacuation of the structure was conducted, a concentration of CO to over 600 ppm was determined in the unit occupied by the initial patient," Czerwinski stated in the release. "While low levels of CO were found in other apartments, 12 individuals were transported to local hospitals with three residents refusing transport.

The 12 patients were transported to Evanston Hospital, Lutheran General Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Skokie Hospital. Victims ranged in age from 4 to 94 years old. The patients were all in stable condition with symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure. 

"With the assistance of NICOR Gas, the primary cause of the elevated CO was determined to be a malfunctioning forced air furnace in the apartment occupied by the initial individual reporting illness," Czerwinski stated in the release.

The Skokie Fire Department will follow up to ensure that conditions at the apartment complex are safe.

Posted 11:30 a.m.:
High levels of carbon monoxide fumes caused 12 people, including several children, to be taken to local hospitals early this morning, according to the Chicago Tribune. A faulty furnace is believed to be the cause.

The incident occurred in the apartment building in the 8000 block of North Keating Avenue. Six ambulances took the 12 people to hospitals, the Tribune said, where authorities said they were all expected to survive but their conditions were not available.

Stay tuned to Skokie Patch for updates.


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