Shreveport, LA – KTBS-TV – A family of eight — the youngest a two-month-old — are lucky to be alive this morning after they were overcome by carbon monoxide at their home in Shreveport.
Firefighters said everyone in the family awoke this morning at their home on Harvard Street suffering from dizziness and severe headaches. All were outside the house when firefighters arrived.
They were admitted to Willis Knighton North hospital and placed in a hyperberic chamber. All are expected to survive, Fire Department spokesman Brian Crawford said.
Firefighters said a carbon monoxide detector registered 288 parts per million inside the house — a near-lethal level. The average is about 50 parts per million..
Crawford said investigators believe a congested air filter on the gas powered central air handling unit caused the carbon monoxide level to rise to a dangerous level.
“The air unit was reported to need servicing and the disposable air filter needed to be changed out,” Crawford said in a news release. “The air intake filter was so clogged that little to no air was being allowed into the room where the air unit was. This caused incomplete combustion and carbon monoxide to build.”
When the central heat unit began blowing air, that sent the built-up carbon monoxide throughout the Allendale neighborhood house.
Family members told firefighters this was the second night they had used the heater this season. Some had complained of headaches after the first night but felt better after leaving the house.
Being treated in a hyperberic chamber are twins Montrell and Dontrell Jackson, 15; Lamarton Jackson, 3; Dara Jackson, 54; Christopher Jackson, 2 months; Polly Jackson, 41; Charlie Jackson, 23; and Charmoria Jackson, 20.