Carbon Monoxide

Baltimore County police have identified a Fullerton woman who died Saturday while being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. Pandora Spriggs, 44, was one of four people who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning Dec. 18 at the Eagles Crest apartment complex in Fullerton. Spriggs, another woman, a man and an 11-month-old girl were hospitalized after the carbon monoxide leak at 7508 Twincrest Court. Spriggs was later taken to a hyperbaric chamber at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Investigators have not determined the cause of the leak.

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Baltimore County fire officials say one of four people who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning in a Fullerton apartment complex more than a week ago has died. Two women, a man and an 11-month-old girl were hospitalized on Dec. 18 after the carbon monoxide leak on Twincrest Court. Fire officials say one of the women died Saturday. Investigators haven't determined the case of the leak. Last week, the Baltimore County Council passed a law that requires all rental units heated by fuel burning equipment to have carbon monoxide detectors.

Seven people were transported to local hospitals after a carbon monoxide leak in a Northwest Baltimore apartment made them sick, the Baltimore Fire Department reported. Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said rescue crews responded to a report of a strange odor in an apartment in the 400 block of Edgewood Road. He said four people were taken to University of Maryland Hospital and three to Johns Hopkins Hospital — all with injuries that were not life-threatening. "People were complaining of headaches," Cartwright said.

Four people, including a baby, were taken from a Baltimore County apartment complex to hospitals Friday afternoon with carbon monoxide poisoning. When firefighters arrived at the Eagles Crest Complex in Fullerton, they found a 20-year-old woman holding an 11-month-old unconscious girl, said Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost. They had made it out of their unit at 7508 Twincrest Court, but crews had to rescue a 44-year-old woman who was unconscious in the apartment, she said.

Victims of carbon monoxide poisoning often mistake their symptoms for the flu and fail to get help, a sometimes deadly mistake, say doctors who see more cases in the winter months. That's when malfunctioning furnaces and improperly ventilated fireplaces come on and some people use appliances such as stoves for heat. "It's a problem across the country," said Dr. Clifford S. Mitchell, from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Infectious Disease and Environmental Health Administration.

Baltimore county firefighters detected dangerous carbon monoxide levels late Monday in a unit at Cove Village Townhomes, a community that has been beset by carbon monoxide leaks. It was the 31st call this year from Cove Village about carbon monoxide. Elise Armacost, a Fire Department spokeswoman, said firefighters detected levels of 40 parts per million in the home. The department recommends evacuation at levels of 100 ppm, and considers it a "medical alert" at 35 ppm. The latest alert came when a mother of two called authorities to say that her carbon monoxide detector had gone off while she was cooking and that she felt ill. The 299-unit complex owned by Sawyer Realty Holdings has a history of carbon monoxide problems.

Seven Elkridge residents were in stable condition Sunday after being hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning. Several of the residents had already evacuated the home in the 5800 block of Main St. by the time Howard County and Baltimore County rescue units arrived just before midnight Saturday, officials said. Officials said that five of the seven residents had high levels of carbon monoxide in their systems and that all seven were taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Even before the snowfall began, weather forecasters and emergency management officials were warning Marylanders about a little-discussed but increasingly common threat from any weather-related emergency: carbon monoxide poisoning. Weather that causes power outages is often followed by reports of carbon monoxide poisoning from gasoline-powered generators. But mammoth snowfalls also cover and block vehicle exhaust pipes, which can cause carbon monoxide to build up inside the passenger area.

Baltimore County emergency crews responding to a carbon monoxide call at a Fullerton apartment complex found a woman holding an unconscious baby outside the building, then pulled an unconscious woman from a unit, a Fire Department spokeswoman said. About 1:25 p.m., crews found extremely high readings of carbon monoxide inside the complex in the 7500 block of Twincrest Court. At 7508 Twincrest, firefighters found 900 parts per million of the gas -- a life-threatening amount, said spokeswoman Elise Armacost.

Among the 68 calls the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department received for medical and fire-rescue service Jan. 8-15 were the following: Gateway Terrace, 4700 block, 8:33 p.m. Jan. 13. Crews from the Arbutus volunteer station and Halethorpe career station responded to the report of a carbon monoxide alarm in Arbutus. A low level of carbon monoxide was discovered, and the scene was secured for BG&E. Frederick Road, 6300 block, 3:27 p.m. Jan. 13. Crews responded to the report of an person with health problems in Catonsville and transported one critically ill person to a local hospital.

Among the 70 calls for medical and fire-rescue service the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department received Oct. 30 Nov. 6 were the following: Beechfield Avenue at Wilkens Avenue, 2:28 p.m. Nov. 4. Crews from the Arbutus and Lansdowne volunteer stations responded to the report of a motor vehicle accident with injury in Arbutus. One person with non-life-threatening injuries taken to a local hospital. Birch Avenue, 1300 block, 5:09 p.m. Nov. 2. Crews from the Arbutus, Lansdowne and Violetville volunteer stations and Halethorpe career station responded to the report of a dwelling fire in Arbutus and found a clogged dryer vent, but no fire.

• Never run the generator inside, and do not use it outside near any windows, vents or other intakes that could allow carbon monoxide inside. Keep plenty of space for air to flow around the generator. Install a carbon monoxide alarm to detect the invisible, odorless gas. Be sure to "ground" the generator properly. Keep it dry to prevent short circuits and fires; if necessary, place it under an open canopy. Keep generator fuel in proper containers or tanks. Never store it inside and do not have the fuel near a running generator.

An elderly couple was found dead Saturday night in their Carroll County home that emergency personnel discovered to contain 80 times the normal level of carbon monoxide. Lewis Keyser, 81 and his 84-year-old wife, Betty, were found in the basement of the house. Relatives told Maryland State police that they found the house in the 1900 block of Lang Road in Hampstead filled with soot and haze Police said Sunday that no foul play is suspected and that the couple was last seen on Thursday.

A Howard County motel was temporarily evacuated Saturday night after rescue personnel discovered high levels of potentially lethal carbon monoxide there, a county fire and rescue spokesman said. Responders were called to the Sleep Inn on Second Street in North Laurel about 8:32 p.m. to check a report of a possible chemical leak, and found five children complaining of headaches and nausea, according to Battalion Chief Eric D. Proctor. Monitoring equipment detected high levels of poisonous carbon monoxide gas in the air, prompting authorities to evacuate 30 motel occupants and take 11 of them to hospitals in Laurel and Columbia.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning consumers about a suffocation and drowning hazard posed by water walking balls, which have turned up at amusement parks, carnivals and other high-traffic areas. I remember seeing a long line at the food court of Arundel Mills earlier this year, waiting to be zipped into one of these clear plastic human-sized hamster balls, floating in a small pool of water. The balls are inflated with air and people use them to walk, run and bump into each other --- if you can remain upright.

Two people, identified by neighbors as construction workers who boarded with a family, died Sunday in a carbon monoxide incident in the 4000 block of Colby Road in Pikesville. Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost said 10 others, including civilians and police officers who were overcome when they entered the home, were taken to local hospitals. Armacost said five were treated and released at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, while 5 taken to the hyperbaric unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Authorities in Anne Arundel County on Wednesday released the name of a man who died in his trailer home, apparently poisoned by carbon monoxide. Murry W. Paddy, 64, was found Tuesday morning by a neighbor in his dwelling on the 5300 block of Sands Road in Lothian, according to a police statement. Firefighters who were dispatched to the scene declared the home unsafe "due to extremely high levels of carbon monoxide" and later pronounced the man dead. Police said a portable electric heater had been plugged into a generator inside the home.