Family Evacuated from Home Due to 'Extremely High' Levels of Odorless Gas

A Wayne family was taken to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning after police found them in their Dorsa Avenue house sick and unconscious on Saturday, police said.

The father of three children called police to request an ambulance to the home, said police Chief John Reardon.

Police found the wife of the caller passed out in a bathroom and another female in the home who was barely breathing, Reardon said.

Three young girls were found unconscious in an upstairs bedroom; Officers Brendan Rigler and Ray Caronia carried the children out of the house, Reardon said, who were immediatley given oxygen.

Carbon-monoxide alarms that Officer Chris Carbone, Rigler, and Caronia were wearing sounded after they went back into the house, Reardon said.

“They found extremely high levels of carbon-monoxide inside the house.

The three children, their parents, and a cousin of the children were taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

Police found a charcoal grill placed near the front entrance of the house to be the source of the fumes that made the family sick. The house did not contain a carbon-monoxide detector.

“We’re very fortunate that no one was seriously hurt,” Reardon said.

Police have repeatedly asked residents since Hurricane Sandy struck last week to not run gas-powered generators too close to and in homes because of the exhaust fumes they emit.

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