LEWISTON — Firefighters evacuated the Sparetime Recreation building at 18 Mollison Way for a carbon monoxide leak Tuesday morning.
More than 100 people were forced to stand in the parking lot in the 9-degree temperature as firefighters worked to determine the cause of high carbon monoxide levels detected in the building, which houses Carbonite, Merrimack River Medical Services and Sparetime Recreation.
According to a Carbonite employee, an internal carbon monoxide alarm sounded at about 9 a.m., which immediately alerted the Fire Department. Firefighters arrived at the scene quickly and helped evacuate the building, which included participants in Sparetime Recreation’s Tuesday Seniors bowling league.
Multiple ambulances also responded to the scene. Several employees from Merrimack River Medical Services were treated at the scene for CO exposure, according to a building employee.
A Carbonite employee said none of the company’s workers were treated.
Fire Capt. Wallace Veilleux said the source was traced to the roof.
“The rooftop HVAC unit had so much snow on it, the vents were plugged,” he said.
Firefighters used large fans to clear the air and allowed people back in after several hours. Carbonite employees were allowed to warm up inside the adjacent Evergreen Insurance office while firefighters vented the building.
Carbon monoxide safety
With the amount of blowing and drifting snow we’ve had in the past week, the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning from blocked exhausts and alternative heat sources has greatly increased, officials said.
The Bangor Daily News reported Tuesday that the Northern New England Poison Center recorded 30 cases of exposure to carbon monoxide in the past week.
“This number is much higher than typical, even for this time of year,” the center said in a news release.
The BDN article reported the recent numbers are triple the weekly incidents for January and February over the past three years and pointed to two other poisonings Tuesday.
A Bar Harbor mother and her three children had to be treated when a heater vent was blocked by snow. A Phippsburg couple that was taken to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick because a furnace malfunction caused carbon monoxide to leak into the house.
Auburn fire Chief Frank Roma weighed in via email following the Sparetime incident.
“Every year at this time it seems we hear about incidents involving CO poisoning,” Roma said. “It is not uncommon to hear of entire families who become sick or die as a result of improperly vented heating devices or improper use of equipment with internal combustion engines being used to provide power or heat a home.”
Roma said, “Warming up cars in an enclosed garage or running a generator inside an enclosed area are both potentially deadly actions that may be well-intentioned but are very ill-advised.”
He said it is critical to make sure all vents for heating devices that exhaust to the outside are free and clear of ice and snow. “The use of kerosene heaters in an enclosed space without proper ventilation is discouraged as well.”
“If there is an open flame involved with any device used to heat or warm a living space, the danger of CO poisoning may be a possibility,” he said.
He added, “Homes should have, at a minimum, one CO detector in each living area. Of course, working and functional smoke alarms should be present as well.
“CO is known as the ‘silent killer’ — it is an odorless, tasteless, poisonous byproduct of combustion that will slowly incapacitate its victims, removing their ability to comprehend what is happening or take actions for self-rescue,” Roma said.
Early symptoms include headache, nausea, confusion and sore throat, Roma said. “Ultimately, those suffering from CO poisoning will become unconscious and die should they not be removed from the affected area in time.”
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