Hyattsville, MD – Fumes from a basement generator may be to blame for the deaths of three people in a house in Hyattsville, Md.
Someone called 911 at about 9:15 a.m. to report people having difficulty breathing, Prince George’s County Fire and EMS spokesman Mark Brady said. When paramedics arrived at the house in the 5600 block of 38th Avenue, they found two people unconscious and soon pronounced them dead.
A third body was found a short time later.
A teenage girl was taken to an area hospital after being exposed.
A generator was running in the basement, and authorities suspect carbon monoxide from the generator may be the cause of death.
“It suffocates you from the inside out,” Brady said.
Investigators are trying to determine why the generator was running.
Generators and other sources of carbon monoxide should never be run inside the home, Brady said. He also advised getting CO detectors in addition to smoke detectors.