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Jan 30, 2009 4:30 pm US/Central
1 Still In Hospital After Carbon Monoxide Leak
Grandmother Credited For Saving Family
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Dallas firefighters say 17 people are lucky to be alive after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Twelve of the 17 family members were treated and released at area hospitals. One victim was still at the hospital Friday afternoon. Authorities would not disclose the exact ages of the 13 victims, but said they ranged from a newborn baby to adults.
Seven of the family members spent two hours in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital to clear the carbon monoxide from their blood.
The incident happened early Friday morning in the 10700 block of Channel Drive in North Dallas.
Bernabe Cruz, a 16-year-old boy who lives at the house with his extended family, said everyone became sick around 5:30 a.m. One of the adults called firefighters complaining of a headache, dizziness and overall lethargy.
"I was worried about the babies in the house," he said.
"I was feeling like I was going to throw up. My head was hurting," said Bernabe's 10-year-old brother Mauro Cruz.
Bernabe credits his grandmother with saving their lives. "She woke everyone up. Some couldn't get up. They were feeling sick," he said.
Pidel Luna says she woke up at 4 a.m. not feeling well, but knew she had to help get her family ready for the day. She said, "Thank God that I was worried getting up to prepare breakfast and lunch."
Luna says she then woke everyone else up.
Fire crews told CBS 11 News that all of the victims were conscious when they left the house, and were being taken to three separate area hospitals only as a precautionary measure.
A faulty space heater was first believed to be the source of the leak, but officials later said it was a crack in a heater vent pipe. The deadly gas leaked into the home's attic. CBS 11 News crews reported smelling a thick odor in the air, but carbon monoxide is an odorless gas. It is possible that another gas was also being leaked.
Ernest Guirile with Dallas Fire-Rescue said that 148 people in Texas died between the years of 1999 and 2004 as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. Nationwide, he said, 500 people die each year.
Situations like this can be easily prevented by installing a carbon monoxide detector in your home. The devices cost roughly $20, and are even legally required by some renters or landlords.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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