8 in hospital, 2 in critical condition with carbon monoxide poisoning

Last Updated: Monday, January 21, 2008 | 4:42 PM MT

CBC News

Eight elderly residents of a condominium complex in Linden, Alta., are in hospital in Edmonton, two in critical condition, after someone apparently left a vehicle idling in an underground garage, police say.

All eight of the victims, six women and two men ranging in age from 55 to 85, were airlifted or driven to Edmonton's Misericordia Hospital, which has specialized equipment to treat carbon monoxide poisoning.

A firefighter at the scene of Monday's emergency at a condominium complex in Linden, Alta.
(CBC)

The two critical patients are in the most danger, said hospital spokeswoman Sheli Murphy.

"They are at risk at this point in time," Murphy told reporters in the hospital hallway. "We cannot make a decision until they've had a few [treatments]."

Three hyperbaric chambers — the only ones in Alberta — were being used to flush out the deadly gas using high pressure oxygen, which purges the carbon monoxide from the body.

The eight seniors in hospital were being cycled through the hyperbaric cylinders in two-hour sessions Monday night. Murphy said it could take up to three treatments before doctors could determine if they were having any effect on the patients.

"It is highly successful if people are able to get here at a certain point in time," she said.

Residents of Sunrise Villa, a three-storey complex for people aged 50 and older with 10 suites, were affected by the toxic gas at about 9:30 a.m. MT, said RCMP Sgt. Randy Yaschuck.

"Groups of two and three firemen went through the building, kicking in doors where necessary," said Mike Ratzlaff, one of 15 volunteer firefighters in Linden.

"Some [residents] were unconscious, some were semi-conscious and some were barely walking. We had a pretty wide range."

Yaschuck said the toxic gas may have come from a motor vehicle left running overnight in the complex's underground garage.

"The underground garage vents through the garage so some of that carbon monoxide, or some of that exhaust gas, could have gone through the building, which is consistent to where the people were in the building … the higher floors had a higher concentration of carbon monoxide than the lower floors."

Two of the complex's residents were not affected by the gas, but they were taken from the building while investigators tracked down the source of the leak, police said.

Annon Hovde, the mayor of Linden, a community of about 600 people about 100 kilometres northeast of Calgary, said he wants to see the provincial government make carbon monoxide detectors mandatory.

"So far there's no fatalities and we're just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best," he said.

Twenty-seven residents of a Calgary apartment building were evacuated after a carbon monoxide alarm this weekend. Five were taken to hospital for treatment. 

Three people have been killed in carbon-monoxide related incidents recently.