Extremely high levels of carbon monoxide could have easily killed a family of six in Tecumseh, instead CO detectors are being credited for saving their lives.
The alarms went off on Christmas Eve at around 2:30pm at a home in the 12400 block of Riverside Dr.
Tecumseh fire captain Dieter Schuster says the family escaped without showing any symptoms of CO poisoning. "We had readings (where) our monitors were maxed out and we had readings downstairs in the basement of 1,000 parts per million," says Schuster. "During my whole time on the fire service I've never experienced a reading that large where our monitors have maxed out."
Schuster says luckily the family wasn't in the basement where the carbon monoxide was leaking from a hot water boiler. "It could have turned out a lot worse than what it was. The family could have been all deceased," says Schuster. The family was taken to hospital as a precaution and they were able to return home after the boiler was repaired.
In Ontario CO detectors are now required by law to be near all sleeping areas and in service rooms.