New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
INCIDENT #1:
Shortly after 9:00am Saturday, Chief 1 and Engine 3 responded to a residence on Ned’s Point Road for a reported smell of gas.
The crew of Engine 3 entered the home and found an exhaust smell that was registering on our carbon monoxide meter at 200ppm, an extremely high level. Firefighters exited the building and donned our SCBA’s and then continued investigating. In one area of the home our meter registered 500ppm and then maxed out reading HIGH.
It was determined that a indoor pool heater had recently been turned on but during renovations to the home the heater vent pipe had been removed and shingled over resulting in exhaust and CO being forced back into the home. Our crews ventilated and secured the gas to the appliance.
CO is extremely dangerous in levels this high. Knowing that the levels were over 500ppm this incident could have resulted in unconsciousness and death. Luckily no one is living in the home as its undergoing renovations.
Mattapoisett Fire Rescue photo.
INCIDENT #2:
On Saturday afternoon Engine 3 was dispatched to another carbon monoxide incident on Pico Beach Road where a propane stove was found to be malfunctioning.
Luckily the homeowner had working CO alarms which notified her of the incident. Due to the homeowner reporting CO poisoning symptoms, EMS did respond for an evaluation.
Please make sure to check your CO alarms, make sure they work properly, have new batteries and are not older than 5-7 years old.”-Mattapoisett Fire Rescue.
Mattapoisett Fire Rescue photo.
