CO scare empties Church/ Wellesley bathhouse
Dec. 16, 2006. 07:44 AM
JOSH WINGROVE
STAFF REPORTER
About 50 people were evacuated from a Toronto bathhouse early this morning after it was discovered the building had been filling with carbon monoxide.
Toronto fire and police responded around 2 a.m. to The Cellar, in the Church St. and Wellesley Ave. E.. area. While many club guests simply went home, crews arrived to find about two-dozen people still standing outside the club, many dressed only in towels.
Patrons said they began feeling ill for two hours prior to evacuating, many of them stumbling and collapsing, and reported seeing one older man being taken away by ambulance around 1 a.m. No carbon monoxide detectors or alarms were heard by guests of the club.
Crews found “high levels of carbon monoxide” when they arrived, said Toronto police Staff Sgt. Randy Carter. The problem was traced to a faulty boiler, which was soon disconnected by Enbridge Gas officials, Carter said. None of the evacuees needed medical attention.
Police didn’t know if there were carbon monoxide detectors in the club.
Eastbound traffic along Wellesley Ave. E. was stopped as fire crews checked the levels throughout the building and surrounding units. Evacuated guests of the club sat in a bus brought by Toronto ambulance as temperatures hovered just above the freezing mark.
Health Canada describes carbon monoxide as an odourless and colourless gas, which in heavy exposure can lead to convulsions, coma or death.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Council website recommends the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in all buildings.
The Cellar is a smaller establishment located in the basement level of a building, and has been in business for just over a decade
Today wasn’t the first time emergency crews visited The Cellar. A 60-year-old man died of a heart attack while at the club in 2003.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
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3 comments:
Funny enough, Melissa just had her furnace "tagged" yesterday. Long story short the previous owner used a basement room as a grow op. He messed up the furnace and there were low levels of carbon monoxide leaking into her home. Her dectector never registered the amounts...it's getting fixed on monday.
Does this mean we shouldn't have carbon monoxide in our homes or we should?
Yeah Mutley,
Carbon Monoxide is an odourless, colourless gas that can kill you. It leaks from furnaces that are damaged, car exhausts, fire places and barbeques. It's the reason to have your furnace maintained, the reason you don't run the car engine in your garage. The reason to clean your chimney, and it's the reason you shouldn't BBQ in your home.
I think it's actually the law where I am that you have to have a working Carbon Monoxide detector in your home. Either way, you should have one in every bedroom, it should be somewhere where air can get to it - don't put it between the bed and the wall. And you should replace them every few years.
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