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Cold season brings more carbon monoxide leaks as furnaces come on

By Chris Fusco
Chicago Sun Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

Carbon monoxide poisonings kept firefighters busy Sunday as furnaces were fired up for the first cold-weather weekend of the year.

Fumes sickened several people, but nobody was critically ill after three cases — two in Chicago and one in the west suburbs.

A malfunctioning heater or stove was suspected in a leak that sent 13 people from Bethel All Nations Church in Englewood to several hospitals, the Chicago Fire Department reported. Four other people were sickened by fumes in a house in the 7800 block of South Greenwood.

Lisle firefighters blamed a bad furnace for a leak in the 6000 block of Millbridge Lane. All five people who lived in the two-story house were hospitalized.

Carbon monoxide, an odorless gas, can kill. Fire officials urge people to buy detectors to warn of unsafe levels.