WINNIPEG -- A malfunction with a building’s boiler caused high levels of carbon monoxide at an apartment building in Winnipeg.
Just after 5:10 p.m. on Thursday, firefighters were responding to an unrelated medical call at the apartment in the 1100 block on Munroe Avenue.
While crews were going inside the building, the portable carbon monoxide alarm, which is clipped to their equipment bags, activated. The firefighters immediately pulled the alarm system to get people out of the building and called in a full complement of crews for help.
Firefighters discovered carbon monoxide levels of 193 parts per million.
While using breathing apparatus, crews got all residents out of the apartment building. Paramedics assessed one person, but they didn’t need to go to the hospital.
Firefighters ventilated the building, and once safe, people went back into their suites.
Crews from Manitoba Hydro came to the incident and determined it was caused by a boiler malfunction.
The city is reminding people of the dangers of carbon monoxide, a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas that’s caused by combustion.
Anyone with carbon monoxide poisoning will suffer from flu-like symptoms, such as nausea, dizziness, confusion, and vision and hearing loss, but they won’t have a fever.
The city also provided the following tips to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning:
- Don’t idle vehicles in attached garages, even if doors are open;
- Have fuel-burning appliances checked every year by qualified technicians;
- Make sure all fresh air intake vents, exhaust vents and chimneys work properly and are unobstructed;
- Ensure wood stoves are properly installed and vented; and
- Don’t use gas-powered engines, charcoal or propane barbecues or grills, kerosene stoves, or propane heaters indoors or in enclosed spaces.
The city encourages people to install carbon monoxide alarms on all floors of their homes.
