Monoxide

A blocked heating vent raised carbon monoxide levels at a Parkville retirement community yesterday morning, sending three workers to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and prompting the evacuation of several hundred residents, Baltimore County fire officials said. No residents were injured, but two maintenance workers at Oak Crest Village and a housekeeper reported symptoms consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning several hours after the evacuations, said Capt. Glenn A. Blackwell, a Fire Department spokesman.

Three residents of an apartment above a Westminster restaurant were hospitalized yesterday after power tools used in an unventilated area apparently sent carbon monoxide levels soaring.Denise Roberts, her infant son, Stephen, and her 3-year-old son, Michael, remained in stable condition yesterday at Carroll County General Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.The incident began about 10:30 a.m. when Mrs. Roberts called 911 after smelling smoke, police said.Officials from the county Health Department and the Maryland Occupation, Safety and Health Administration are investigating and will determine when renovations may resume, said Lt. Dean Brewer of the Westminster Police Department.

Believe it or not, the quality of air in the mid-Atlantic region is getting better, mostly because of reductions in carbon monoxide emissions from automobiles.A three-year University of Maryland study published in today's issue of Geophysical Research Letters shows carbon monoxide (CO) -- one ingredient in the noxious stew of chemicals known as ozone -- dropping 23 percent over the past 10 years. That suggests other pollutants are dropping as well, said Bruce Doddridge, a research scientist in UM's department of meteorology and one of the authors of the study.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can, if sufficient concentrations build up in your home, kill you fairly quickly.Most people know that, but there has been a recent rash of close calls with excess carbon monoxide in people's homes. One case in which people became seriously ill occurred just around the corner from Karol's house.Most indoor carbon monoxide buildups come from gas- or oil-fired furnaces and water heaters. It doesn't matter if your house is completely weather-tight or pretty drafty.

Managers of an Essex townhouse community troubled by carbon monoxide leaks say the complex should be rid of the dangerous gas by week's end, after stoves are adjusted. Baltimore County officials and firefighters set up a temporary command center at the Cove Village complex Tuesday, and workers will spend two days investigating what they say are faulty stoves in several of the 299 units. Officials say the management company has agreed to replace gas stoves with electric models over time.

Earlier this year, a prominent and experienced Annapolis yachtswoman died aboard a sailing yacht after he was overcome by carbon-monoxide fumes while taking a shower. A few weeks ago, another experienced boater had to be revived after he was overcome and passed out while below deck.Carbon-monoxide poisoning is not a new cause of death, but it is perhaps more often associated with automobiles than large, gasoline-powered boats.Carbon monoxide is a clear and odorless gas that, in large enough concentrations, can dull the senses, erode the will and, within an hour of causing unconsciousness, kill.

Baltimore police were trying to determine last night how three men who showed no apparent signs of trauma died in a Parkside rowhouse, most likely well before their bodies were found yesterday afternoon. Investigators consider the deaths in the home at 4753 Elison Ave. "suspicious," said Officer Troy Harris, a police spokesman. "To the naked eye, you can't tell the cause of death" in any case police term "suspicious," he said, "whether it was a homicide, a gas leak or an overdose." Police received a call early yesterday afternoon to check on the east-side home.

Glendon William Bell Jr. loved fixing old cars and talking with mechanics far more than playing sports or seeking mischief. If that made the Mount Airy boy an atypical 12-year-old, family members said, it only made him more endearing to his father and uncles, all mechanics. His family was hardly surprised that Glendon would become distracted from shoveling snow and start fiddling with the 1992 Ford Festiva that was his latest reclamation project. "He didn't want anything new because the thing for him was to get it up and running," said Glendon's brother-in-law Steven Gosnell of Mount Airy.

Baltimore State's Attorney Stuart O. Simms said last night that he has asked for a review of city housing files to determine whether anyone is criminally liable for the carbon monoxide poisoning that killed a 2-year-old girl in her Patterson Park Avenue home Tuesday.But Mr. Simms said he doubted that criminal charges would be brought in connection with the death of the child, Tiera Monet Moyd."It concerns me when there's loss of life that could have been prevented, especially if someone didn't take into account the needs of a young family," Mr. Simms said.

In the townhouse complex where an Essex man and his two teenage stepdaughters died last month of carbon monoxide poisoning, seven children at an unlicensed day-care operation and two adults were hospitalized yesterday after a carbon monoxide detector sounded, authorities said. A faulty pipe inside a hot-water heater caused the poisonous gas to leak into the two-story rowhouse, said Baltimore County Battalion Chief Joe Fannon. Authorities blamed a similar problem - a misaligned vent pipe leading from a water heater - for the carbon monoxide build-up that killed 48-year-old Norman Sylvester Wiley and his two stepdaughters, Sheriesa Bernay King, 15, and Ja-Na Liett Jones, 14, in their house on High Seas Court on July 19. Yesterday's incident was two houses away, and it prompted firefighters to evacuate two nearby units in the Cove Village townhouse complex.