Five residents of an Essex townhouse community with a history of carbon monoxide problems were treated for symptoms of the poisonous gas early Wednesday, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman said.
The victims - three women, an 11-year-old boy and an 18-month-old boy - were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center's hyperbaric chamber just before 1 a.m. They were expected to recover, according to the fire spokeswoman, Elise Armacost.
Three other residents of the same townhouse in the first block of High Seas Court showed no symptoms of elevated carbon monoxide levels, Armacost said.
The eight live in the Cove Village complex, where three people - a 48-year-old man and his two stepdaughters, aged 14 and 15 - died after inhaling the gas in their home in July 2005. Nine people were hospitalized the following month after complaining of symptoms that can signal carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide alarms were installed throughout the complex after the July 2005 incident, caused by a faulty pipe inside a hot-water heater. In a one-month span last year, the Fire Department was called to Cove Village on 20 occasions in response to carbon monoxide alarms.
Just after Wednesday's incident, readings indicated about 85 parts per million of the gas near an upstairs bedroom and 74 parts per million downstairs, Armacost said. Most carbon monoxide detectors go off at about 35 parts per million, she added.
The effect of the colorless, odorless gas is cumulative. One victim in Wednesday's incident told emergency personnel that she had been experiencing symptoms all day Tuesday, Armacost said.
Timothy M. Kotroco, director of the county's department of permits and development management, said inspectors have not identified the source of the gas. Meters registered nearly undetectable readings of carbon monoxide - only about two or three parts per million - during later visits Wednesday, after the townhouse was ventilated, he said.
Kotroco has barred anyone from occupying the unit for seven days while his agency continues to test. Sawyer Realty Holdings LLC, a College Park-based company that owns and manages the property, has also been told to hire an independent lab to conduct daily tests for elevated carbon monoxide levels at the townhouse, according to Kotroco. The company has already extended a vent pipe in the roof an additional 2 feet at the request of county inspectors.
No one from Sawyer Realty returned calls for comment Wednesday.
