Nathan Hager, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – More than a dozen condominium owners and their families may have to find another place to sleep, after a carbon monoxide leak forced an evacuation of their building Monday afternoon.
D.C. Fire and EMS got the call for a natural gas leak at 2640 Wade Road in Southeast D.C. about 1:30 p.m.
“They came here and realized this was not a natural gas leak. This was a carbon monoxide emergency,” says Deputy Fire Chief Demetrios Vlassopoulous.
Firefighters immediately evacuated one woman and her small child who were lethargic and showing signs of CO poisoning.
The child was taken to Children’s Hospital, while the mother went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, where a hyperbaric chamber was immediately available.
In all, 11 adults and 5 children were taken to various hospitals with elevated CO levels in their bloodstream, but all were alert and coherent.
Fire investigators say a faulty heating unit in the building’s basement was the source of the gas leak.
The fire department is contacting the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and working with the condominium association to fix the unit before residents will be allowed back in their homes.
“We have to find out the status of their heater, obviously,” says Vlassapoulos.”It’s going to get cold tonight, and that potentially will put the whole building out of service, and we may have to notify Red Cross.”
A condo owner named India was among those evacuated. She declined transport to the hospital for herself and her six-month-old son.
“I smelled something and my head was hurting, and my baby was coughing, so I had to get out of there,” she says.
India says she’ll get herself checked with a doctor later. In the meantime, she’s made arrangements to stay the night with her grandmother.
“They said they’re not sure if they’re going to be letting us back in because of the heating, and my baby, I need some heat for my baby,” she says.
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