PA Safe Homes Coalition

CBS3.com (AP): Fire Officials: 2 Hospitalized For Carbon Monoxide

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:38:40 +0000

May 3, 2010 6:53 am US/Eastern

YEADON, Pa. (AP) ― A suburban Philadelphia couple were hospitalized after using a generator in their home after their electricity was cut off.

Yeadon Fire Chief Mike Melazzo says a utility worker spotted the exhaust pipe while working at a neighbor’s home on Sunday morning.

When emergency workers responded to the scene they found an unidentified woman unconscious. A man who was in the house was also taken to the hospital.

Full Story

KDKA.com (AP): 2nd Woman Dies After Pa. Housing Authority Fire

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:32:45 +0000

WAYNESBURG, Pa. (AP) ― A second woman has died as a result of a fire at an apartment complex for elderly and disabled residents in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Seventy-seven-year-old Velma Morris died Wednesday at a Pittsburgh hospital of carbon monoxide poisoning and complications from smoke inhalation from the fire April 22 at the Avalon Court apartments.

Another resident, 61-year-old Patricia Eddy, was pronounced dead at the fire scene in Waynesburg.

The complex is run by the Greene County Housing Authority.

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Tribune-Review: Carbon monoxide death in Manor under investigation

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:26:16 +0000

By Tribune-Review
Friday, April 23, 2010

Manor police are investigating whether a 43-year-old borough woman’s death was accidental because she left her car running in her garage.

Police Chief George Valmassoni said the likely cause of Marina Carrick’s April 11 death is carbon monoxide poisoning.

Police responded to her home at 12:18 p.m. after receiving a call from a neighbor.

Full Story

Lebanon Daily News: Carbon monoxide probed in 2 Pa. apartment deaths

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:23:44 +0000

The Associated Press

Updated: 04/06/2010 09:15:47 AM EDT

ALTOONA, Pa.—Authorities in western Pennsylvania say are trying to determine if carbon monoxide from a furnace or other source killed a man and woman in their apartment.

Altoona police found the bodies Monday afternoon after they were called to check on the welfare of the couple.

Altoona Fire Chief Reynold Santone Jr. says crews were ventilating the apartment and checking for carbon monoxide leaks.

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The Morning Call (Allentown): Giant Food carbon monoxide crisis affects 35 near Easton

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:00:23 +0000

At least eight ambulances rushed to the Giant Food Store in Forks Township on Monday night after carbon monoxide from a tile-cutting machine affected 35 people, authorities said.

Three of those exposed suffered potentially life-threatening effects, said William Carver, Forks emergency management coordinator.

Forks Fire Chief Chuck Chapman said the carbon monoxide appeared to have been produced by a propane-powered tile-cutter that a contractor was operating in a tented area within the store at 301 Town Center Blvd., just west of Sullivan Trail.

Full Story

Pocono Record Editorial: Follow Empire State’s lead to curb deadly gas

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:41:46 +0000

February 28, 2010

A New York law enacted Monday should put new impetus behind a bill Monroe County state Rep. John Siptroth, D-189, is co-sponsoring to curb accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

New York State now requires that carbon-monoxide detectors be installed in every house and apartment, both new construction and existing homes. No houses are exempt. “Amanda’s Law” was inspired by the death of 16-year-old Amanda Hansen of West Seneca, N.Y. who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning at a sleepover party.

Pennsylvania has had plenty of its own cases of accidental carbon monoxide death, including a recent local tragedy involving four Stroudsburg youths who died together a year ago this month in the house they had been renovating in Marshalls Creek. A portable generator in the basement emitted the odorless, colorless gas that killed them.

Read the rest of the editorial here.

69-WFMZ: Family Sickened By Carbon Monoxide

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:02:58 +0000

READING, Pa. — Emergency officials say a Reading family suffered carbon monoxide poisoning Tuesday night.

Thankfully, they realized something was wrong and called for help. If not, officials say carbon monoxide levels were high enough that the family could have died overnight.

Full Story

Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Storm-related ailments keep hospitals busy

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:09:31 +0000

By Jessica Turnbull, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Slips and falls sent many to the hospital last weekend, but doctors were surprised to treat 23 people for carbon monoxide poisoning at UPMC Presbyterian hospital.

“Dr. Donald Yealy, chairman of emergency medicine at UPMC, told us that’s more than he’s ever seen on a weekend in his entire career,” said UPMC spokeswoman Wendy Zellner. “The previous two-day high that he could recall was seven.”

The symptoms of 10 of those patients were so severe that they had to be treated in a hyperbaric chamber, she said.

The treatment involves breathing 100 percent oxygen — five times higher than normal air — in a sealed chamber. This improves blood circulation so the blood can deliver oxygen to the body, according to the UPMC Web site.

Full Story

Associated Press: 34 Recovering From Carbon Monoxide At Pa. Church

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:21:48 +0000

SUGAR GROVE, Pa. (AP) – Thirty-four people are recovering from carbon monoxide poisoning apparently caused by a blocked chimney in a northwestern Pennsylvania church.

The adults and children who got sick were attending church services and a social hour Sunday morning at Hessel Valley Lutheran Church in Sugar Grove Township, about 115 miles northeast of Pittsburgh near the New York border.

Church member Verne Ekdahl says a young woman passed out during the church service and the church was evacuated when several others fell ill during the social hour.

Most were taken to Warren General Hospital, where four had to be flown to Pittsburgh for treatment, and six others to Women’s Christian Association Hospital in Jamestown, N.Y.

Hospital officials say everyone is expected to recover.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Two die, two dozen sick from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:15:11 +0000

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Attempts to keep warm using generators or other heat sources during power outages caused by heavy snowfall may have led to two deaths and more than two dozen others being sickened by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Another man may have died while shoveling snow.

A man and his daughter were found dead today, the apparent result of carbon monoxide poisoning that resulted from the use of a generator, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office. George Mateya, 60, and his daughter, Joelle Mateya, 19, were using a generator for heat because of an electrical outage at their home in McKeesport.

Their bodies were found at 12:18 a.m. today at their home on Milburn Street by a friend who was concerned because he hadn’t heard from them Saturday.

Dr. Donald M. Yealy of the UPMC Health System said that more than two dozen people have been treated in the system’s hospitals for carbon monoxide poisoning between Saturday and today. Three more were treated in the West Penn Allegheny health system, a spokeswoman said.

Dr. Yealy said the common thread in the poisonings was the improper use of generators or other sources to make up for the loss of electricity. Generators, which burn fuel, should be used outside to prevent a buildup on carbon monoxide indoors.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, carbon monoxide is a byproduct of combustion. Fumes are produced as the exhaust emission from the burning of such fuels as natural gas, wood, and coal. The less complete the burning, the more carbon monoxide is generated.

A fume that can’t be seen or smelled, carbon monoxide can be produced in deadly levels by malfunctioning machines or it can accumulate to a toxic level in areas that are not well ventilated, according to the EPA.

Also, the examiner’s office is investigating what could be a third weather-related death. A 57-year-old man, whose name hasn’t been released, was found dead in his North Side home Saturday night, not long after he had been shoveling a sidewalk at his sister’s nearby home.

Karen Kane: kkane@post-gazette.com or at 724-772-9180.