11 people hospitalized after carbon monoxide leak in Lawrence
LAWRENCE - Eleven people were taken to Lawrence General Hospital with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning Thursday morning.
Fire trucks and ambulances lined Lawrence Street in Lawrence after a family of four told 911 dispatchers that they were feeling unwell.
"We got on scene using our gas meters and we got high levels of CO, so we evacuated the building. All three floors," said Deputy Fire Chief Matthew Nadeau.
He told WBZ-TV they found a minor gas leak coming out of a restaurant stove downstairs, followed by a faulty furnace on the second floor that was emitting dangerously high levels of CO.
Out of the 11 transported to the hospital, four people had high levels of carbon monoxide in their system.
Francesca DeJesus works across the street and said she saw a woman on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on.
What's most alarming, Deputy Chief Nadeau said, was that none of the units had a carbon monoxide detector - a life-saving tool that alerts residents of the poisonous gas before it kills.
"There were no CO detectors on any levels of the floors and smoke detectors were taken down," he said.
And while all the occupants at 157 Lawrence Street are expected to be OK, first responders have a critical message as the weather gets colder.
"It's very important that we have CO detectors on every level and working smoke detectors," Nadeau said.