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Family waits to return home after CO leak
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
One week after five family members and a family friend survived a high concentration of carbon monoxide from a blocked furnace exhaust pipe, the family still waits to return home.
Fred Rivera said Monday the family expects to return home today, after the furnace, hot-water tank and exhaust pipes are replaced and inspected.
Rivera said the contractors who have worked on his home say it appears the furnace-exhaust pipe got blocked with leaves carried deep into the pipe by birds.
The blocked pipe ruined the furnace, and the new furnace and exhaust pipes are being installed in a different location, requiring the replacement of the hot-water tank, Rivera said.
When the job is complete, the Riveras also will have a cap on the exhaust pipes to prevent another blockage in the pipe, and there will be carbon-monoxide detectors on both floors of the house, Rivera said.
Rivera’s 13-year-old daughter and her 13-year-old friend both fainted about 1 p.m. Nov. 6. The girls and the four other people in the house have fully recovered.
But Rivera said he is thankful the furnace didn’t kick on and fill the house with carbon monoxide in the middle of the night, or everyone in the house might have died.
“They would have just gone to bed and gone to sleep permanently,” Warren Fire Chief Ken Nussle agreed Monday.
The fire chief recommends having the heating system checked by a licensed inspector annually, though he knows most people don’t do that.
His other suggestions are to get a carbon-monoxide detector and watch for flulike symptoms.