Tumbler Ridge Place, located at 235 Front Street, was evacuated twice during the recent cold snap after elevated carbon monoxide (CO) levels were found in the building.
According to Fire Chief Dustin Curry, on Thursday January 16, the Tumbler Ridge Fire Department received a non-emergency call from a concerned occupant of 235 Front street, stating that there was a smell in the office. “Upon arrival, fire department personnel found carbon monoxide levels in excess of 90ppm within one business, prompting their immediate evacuation,” says Currey. “Personnel continued to investigate the rest of the structure and found elevated CO readings throughout the entire building. A complete evacuation of all occupants was then ordered by the fire department until the source of the CO could be located.
Josie Pindera from Hub Insurance says they were very lucky. “We kept smelling something, but carbon monoxide is odourless, so we were smelling something else” she says. “I called the building manager. He said to call the Fire Department. I talked to Mike [Thibodeau] and said something smelled funning over here. When the Fire Chief walked in, things started beeping. He told us to go to the clinic immediately. We spent two hours on Oxygen.”
Four others were sent to the Tumbler Ridge Medical Clinic’s Emergency Room for assessment, as they exhibited signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Meanwhile, the fire department began searching out the source of the carbon monoxide. “A suspected cause at the time was determined to be the accumulation of snow and ice in and around the air handle units, causing improper ventilation,” says Chief Curry. “The buildings maintenance personnel worked that evening to ensure that these units were cleared of any potential obstruction and working effectively.”
That seemed to be the end of that. Fire Department personnel went to the building at 7:00 am on Friday to assess the building’s air quality, which was found to be normal.
However, at 10:45 says Pindera, she was starting to smell the same smell, and called 911. While levels were not as high as the day previous, they were rising. “Levels had started to rise from the readings taken at 0700, and were nearing the maximum level that a worker can be exposed to in an eight hour period of 25ppm,” says Chief Curry. “This prompted the self-evacuation of a few of the buildings tenants. After consultation with the buildings maintenance staff and other technical experts, the idling of vehicles near the building then became the suspected source of the CO contamination.”
This led to the street in front of the building being blocked off to prevent people from parking there, to determine if this was the root cause. “The extreme cold weather that was recently experienced was also suspected to play a considerable factor,” says Curry.
Fire Department personnel monitored the air quality of the building periodically over the weekend and found no elevated readings. The parking blockade was removed early Monday morning after a thorough inspection of the building took place with no elevated results. At press time, there had been no further issues.
Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas produced by burning carbon fuels such as propane, natural gas, oil, wood, charcoal, alcohol, kerosene or gasoline. Early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning look a lot like a flu; Headache, confusion, vomiting, weakness, dizziness, and chest pain can be present in those exposed. The Tumbler Ridge Fire Department strongly advocates that every home that uses a fuel burning appliance should have a CO detector in the room of the appliance as well as a detector within 3m (15ft) of any sleeping area. If you believe you’re being poisoned by CO, or if your CO detector goes off, call 911 and get out of the building. Don’t return to the area until you’re sure it’s safe.
