Thatcher, AZ – THATCHER Two Thatcher residents are lucky to be alive after experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning last Wednesday.
The Thatcher Fire Department was called to an aprtment complex on Stadium Avenue for a possible gas leak at 5:27 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18. According to Thatcher Fire Chief Mike Payne, a young couple, who were going to be married the next day, were working on their apartment when the male resident took a nap on the couch due to a headache.
Payne didnt tell the Courier what woke the male resident of the apartment, only that he awoke to find his fiance unconscious on the floor in the bathroom. After finding his fiance unconscious, the groom-to-be called his mother, who arrived and vacated the couple from the apartment.
When the Thatcher Fire Department arrived, they used a carbon monoxide detector and found that the carbon monoxide levels in the apartment were high, as were the levels in the unoccupied apartment above. A faulty gas heater was determined to be the cause.
“People need to be careful of their heaters. A little bit longer and they both would have been dead, Payne said. Get a carbon monoxide detector. People need to get one and keep it in their house if they use natural gas or propane.
Payne told the Courier he didnt know the exact condition of the couple, but said that they were both awake when the ambulance arrived on the scene. Carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas that can be lethal in high doses.