By Nate Carlisle
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune
All Rights Reserved
OGDEN, Utah — Master Officer Ron Gardiner still has bouts of nausea and fatigue.
Sgt. Art Weloth suffers continuous headaches and occasional blurred vision in his right eye.
Officer Bret Connors is the fortunate one. He experiences only occasional headaches.
Carbon monoxide poisoning caused their ailments three months ago in an accident that killed a 29-year-old man. Though still recovering, the three Ogden cops have returned to duty.
And they have become advocates for carbon monoxide (CO) detectors in homes, pushing their friends and families to buy the devices.
The city of Ogden has followed their lead.
The accident spurred the Ogden Fire Department to install its supply of detectors in homes throughout the city. And the City Council is considering ordinances requiring detectors in all dwellings.
Gardiner — a 35-year veteran who uses a horse in community presentations about household and public hazards — was hurt the most in the March 31 accident. Not surprisingly, he has become the biggest advocate for CO poisoning prevention.
Gardiner and Sundance, the quarter horse gelding he has trained to dance and play soccer in his presentations, have incorporated an education on carbon monoxide and detectors into their show.
The 56-year-old cop continues to suffer from his poisoning. Just last week he had a relapse of fatigue, nausea and trouble concentrating.
“Every day is an experience,” Gardiner said. “You have good days and bad days.”
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas created by combustion. It attaches itself to red blood cells in the body and prevents oxygen from reaching those blood cells. CO also has toxic effects on other cells in the body.
Poisoning from carbon monoxide can cause fatigue, nausea, headaches and cramping. It also can alter brain chemistry, interfere with cognitive functions and create anxiety and depression, according to Lin Weaver, a physician who has published research on carbon monoxide poisoning.
“We believe this is just part of the damage to the brain,” said Weaver, who treated the three Ogden officers.
On March 31, Benjamin Sutton was found dead in the laundry room of a home his father owned on the 1000 block of Chatelain Road. Officers Connors, Weloth and Gardiner went into the home to investigate.
Gardiner and Weloth were in the laundry room as Connors went to a door to get some air. The 45-year-old Weloth was talking on his cell phone with a police lieutenant. He hung up, tried to say something to Gardiner and then collapsed.
Realizing they were experiencing CO poisoning, Gardiner yelled into his radio for help and tried to drag Weloth outside. But Gardiner suddenly became light-headed and dizzy, too, and began losing strength.
“I knew we didn’t have much time,” Gardiner said last week. “I was so light-headed I couldn’t function.”
Connors arrived, and he and Gardiner each grabbed Weloth under one arm and dragged him outside. Then Connors, 27, lost consciousness. Once out of the house, Gardiner experienced cramping, numbness and shortness of breath.
The three officers spent the night at LDS Hospital and received multiple treatments in a hyperbaric chamber. Tests found the house had CO levels of 1,100 parts per million - significantly higher than the 35 ppm at which air is considered polluted and the 50 ppm level at which poisoning symptoms start to appear.
The source of the carbon monoxide was an on-demand water heater that had been altered so it was always running.
Weloth missed about three weeks of work and Connors missed two weeks with severe headaches and fatigue. Weloth said he would get tired after walking upstairs or unloading his dishwasher.
“I was zoned for a week,” Connors said. “My wife said I was in left field and I wasn’t acting myself.”
Gardiner missed 2 1/2 months of work. Aside from the physical ailments, Gardiner said he suffered from emotional problems.
One day, Gardiner said, he had an argument with his wife “over something that was nothing.” After the argument, Gardiner went into his bedroom, lay on the bed and curled into the fetal position and, as he described it, withdrew from the world.
He said he wasn’t asleep but wasn’t thinking about anything, either.
“My mind just couldn’t handle any of it,” Gardiner said. “I don’t know how to explain it, really, because you’re not really thinking rationally.”
Weaver said Gardiner appears to be among the one-third of carbon monoxide victims who experience significant symptoms months after the poisoning. If the symptoms last a year, they are typically permanent, the doctor said.
Researchers have not determined why some people suffer more from carbon monoxide poisoning than others do, but age appears to be a risk factor. Weaver said people over 36 are twice as likely to have prolonged symptoms.
Gardiner tried returning to work after three weeks, but then had to take another leave. He said he would start to feel symptoms after walking into a room with cigarette smoke or being around other sources of carbon monoxide.
Weaver said some carbon monoxide victims complain their symptoms return when they’re around small amounts of smoke or combustion fumes.
The city bought Connors, Gardiner and Weloth CO detectors to carry with them at all times. They devices sound if they stand behind a car or some other combustion.
One day in May, Gardiner walked into a Toys “R” Us in Murray to look for a swimming pool for his granddaughter. As he passed through the doors, he immediately began to feel symptoms. Then his detector sounded and reported levels of 45 ppm.
Gardiner said he told the manager about carbon monoxide, and the store discovered the source to be a propane-powered floor buffer.
Gardiner has ordered more than 50 home detectors for family and friends. Connors and Weloth have been pushing people they know to buy detectors, too.
“I just tell them if they don’t have them, they need to get them. Twenty-five or 30 dollars is worth your life,” Weloth said.
Before the cops were poisoned, the Ogden Fire Department received a grant to buy 5,000 carbon monoxide detectors to give away.
Battalion Chief Dave Owens said the Fire Department hustled to distribute the detectors after Connors, Gardiner and Weloth were poisoned so the city didn’t lose the grant money.
“It’s really ludicrous that people don’t have CO detectors,” Owens said. “Smoke you can smell. You have breathing problems. CO, you just go to sleep.”
Gardiner, meanwhile, said he wonders how long his symptoms will remain with him. “When I’m on a call I don’t feel like I’m a risk,” he said. “It’s just harder to be there.”