WASHINGTON — Montgomery County firefighters evacuated a 17-story North Bethesda, Maryland condominium Tuesday morning after discovering high levels of carbon monoxide.
Assistant Chief Maurice Witt tells WTOP one of the main water heaters in the basement of the Forum Condominium building malfunctioned around 6:30 a.m.and had to be taken out of commission.
U/D Forum Apts 11801 Rockville Pike – HazMat identified malfunctioning water heater as source of CO, under control pic.twitter.com/7yfh1zUHI4
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) June 3, 2014
Witt says a carbon monoxide detector went off on the 15th floor and someone pulled the alarm to evacuate the building.
Residents from the Forum Condominium at 11801 Rockville Pike, a block and a half from the White Flint Metro Station, were evacuated and evaluated as firefighters searched for the cause. No one needed medical attention, Witt said.
Piringer tweeted that that building has been ventilated.
Forum Apts all floors re-occupied, EMS evaluated a few folks, no transports, situation under control, @mcfrs clearing pic.twitter.com/MutFsvssWP
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) June 3, 2014
Residents returned just after 9 a.m., about 2 1/2 hours after the problem was first reported.
With the water heater of out of commission, residents won’t be without hot water, though. The building has a second, working boiler.
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