Overland Park, KS – Chilly weather may have contributed to a carbon monoxide incident at an Overland Park home on Thursday morning.
A faulty furnace emitted the dangerous fumes and two people were rushed to a hospital.
Firefighters were called to the home in the 7400 block of West 115th Street at about 9:30 a.m. when a man and his wife inside the home reported feeling ill.
Fire crews said that they found carbon monoxide levels upstairs to be almost 20 times what is considered safe.
The house was aired out and the gas company was called. A gas company worker said the furnace needed cleaning and was not working properly.
Investigators said the victims are lucky they were alert when they became ill.
“We’ve had incidents where people haven’t been able to walk out of their house because they’ve been in it too long,” Overland Park Fire Lt. Chris Palmer told KMBC’s Peggy Breit.
The Overland Park Fire Department urges residents to maintain and check their furnaces to make sure they are in good working order. Firefighters also recommend installing carbon monoxide alarms.