Vehicle Left Running Sickens Adults, Children

OBETZ, Ohio—It was a race against the clock for rescue crews in Obetz after an entire family was sickened by carbon monoxide.

According to fire officials, a vehicle had been left running inside a closed garage since mid-morning.

Columbus fire received a call on a possible gas leak at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I saw a lady come running out to call the cops because there’s people that was, knocked out, because a car got turned on,” 10-year-old neighbor Anthony Duncan said.

When crews arrived at the home on the 3700 block of Amwell Dr., they found CO2 levels at mre than five times the level considered toxic.

Three adults and four children, ages 1 to 14, were inside the home.

“When we arrived here, there were eight people in the front yard. They had got out of the house on their own,” CFD’s Kent Searle said.

Searle said the incident is a problem CFD typically sees in the winter time with a furnace or a hot water heater but the effects of a running vehicle are exactly the same thing.

The children were transported to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and the adults were transported to OSU Medical Center.

All were expected to survive.

An eighth person, an adult woman, also had high carbon-monoxide blood readings but refused transport, saying she would go on her own. 

In addition, veterinary help was summoned for two dogs that were revived successfully.

Fire officials determined the exposure was accidental. 

They thought the keys may have been left in the vehicle and someone, perhaps a child, turned it on and left it running.

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