SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Fire Department is encouraging people to be especially careful in the wake of a carbon monoxide poisoning case that left seven people hospitalized.
All seven people were overcome by carbon monoxide Sunday morning inside a home on Sycamore Moon, near Wurzbach Parkway and Blanco Road, according to police and firefighters who were at the scene.
They were all taken to a hospital for treatment.
On Tuesday morning, two women, clad in paper hospital gowns, stepped out of a car outside the home. Unable to get back inside the home, they stood outside the front door, shivering in the cold air.
Through a phone translation app, the women said they had no idea what made them and the others so sick and are unsure sure how or why a car was left running inside the garage attached to the home.
However, they said they are grateful everyone made it through and that they are feeling better now.
Woody Woodward with SAFD said that while these circumstances are unusual, poisoning from carbon monoxide gas is not.
“In recent memory, I can’t, off the top of my head, recall where it (carbon monoxide poisoning) was from a car in a garage that was closed and running,” Woodward said.
He said carbon monoxide poisoning can happen quickly, with the dangerous gas seeping from items that are burning fuel.
“You’ve got to watch out in your home if you have a gas stove,” Woodward said. “A big issue we see in San Antonio is generators.”
Woodward said people will often run generators in their garage or inside their homes. Instead, he said generators should be kept outdoors, at least 20 feet from all windows, doors and vents.
“Never use your stove to heat your home. You’ve got to check those fireplaces and make sure that they’re clean,” Woodward said.
Woodward also encouraged the use of carbon monoxide alarms or detectors, which can warn of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide gas.
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