FDNY: 1 Dead, 4 Sickened In Carbon Monoxide Incident In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One person is dead and four have been sickened after a carbon monoxide incident in Brooklyn.
Firefighters were called to a building on Jackson Street near Woodpoint Road in East Williamsburg just after 6 a.m. Saturday for a report of elevated carbon monoxide levels.
When police officers and firefighters arrived at the home, they found an unconscious, unresponsive individual lying on the ground in a second-floor hallway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fire Chief Fred Schaff told CBS2's Marc Liverman that four others, two female victims and two male victims, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to a local hospital.
According to firefighters, all five victims were squatting in the home.
A generator was found inside the building, but it wasn't running.
Schaff says carbon monoxide readings were coming in at 250 parts per million. Normal levels are somewhere close to 9 parts per million.
Firefighters also found elevated carbon monoxide in neighboring buildings.
Those buildings were evacuated, but tenants have since been allowed to return.
"It was scary, and at first, I didn't even think that it was a case of anyone passing away. I just thought that that was someone's alarm that went off and alerted them that there was carbon monoxide, and then that, you know, they just came to make sure that everybody was OK," neighbor Sharon Carrolls said. "So, yeah, it was really scary, and [I'm] definitely going to get my carbon monoxide alarms checked as soon as possible to make sure that they're working correctly."
At least 60 firefighters responded to the scene.
