Duval County

JFRD: Charcoal grill inside Jacksonville apartment is blamed for sending 10 people to hospital

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Officials say 10 people were hospitalized after being exposed to carbon monoxide at a Southside apartment complex.

Five children are recovering at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and two adults are at Baptist Medical Center Downtown.

One adult was treated and released and another two adults drove themselves to an unknown hospital.

Jacksonville firefighters believe they were sickened after using a charcoal grill inside their apartment.

It happened Friday about 4:30 a.m. at the Baytree on Baymeadows apartments.

Bags of charcoal were spotted near the unit.

Jacksonville firefighters said it was the children who were starting to feel sick --- some were dizzy and vomiting, causing someone to call for help.

“All five are doing well. All five of them have already started treatment for the carbon monoxide poisoning,” said Dr. Mark Toney, chief of hospital pediatrics for Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Specialty Care.

When rescuers arrived at the apartment, they found a woman outside holding a child who was lethargic.

Toney said cases like these are not rare.

There are “about 50,000 exposures of non-fire related carbon monoxide a year, and several hundred deaths per year unfortunately [in the U.S.],” he said.

Carbon monoxide is known as a silent killer because you can’t see it, smell it or hear it.

Common symptoms include, headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion.

“We could have had an apartment with 10 dead people and nobody would have known anything,” Capt. Eric Prosswimmer said.

Four apartments nearby also had to be temporarily evacuated, with two of them showing elevated carbon monoxide levels. They’ve since been cleared for occupancy.

Kids, adults recovering from poisoning After a grill was taken inside an apartment, several people were taken to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning.

© 2020 Cox Media Group

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