An elderly couple died in their northwest Calgary home and nine others were sent to hospital Wednesday in an apparently accidental case of carbon-monoxide poisoning caused by a car left running in the home's garage.
The couple's son and eight emergency workers were also exposed to the deadly gas in the home, Calgary fire department spokesman Jeff Budai said. The son is listed in hospital in serious but non-life-threatening condition.
Firefighters and paramedics responded to a 911 call by the son around 5:30 p.m. MT Wednesday after he found his father unconscious.
When paramedics and firefighters arrived, they found the elderly man in cardiac arrest and not breathing. His son told them he didn't know where his mother was.
Crews searched the house and discovered the mother, who was also in cardiac arrest.
The fire captain also noticed unusual behaviour from the son, who "was staggering a little bit," Budai said.
"He made the decision to pull everyone from the house."The levels of carbon monoxide inside the home were so high that four firefighters, two police officers and two EMS workers started getting sick.
All are expected to recover, said emergency measures spokesman Paul Lapointe.
Neighbour Christina Switzer, who lives with her boyfriend across the street from the couple's home, said that she saw emergency workers discover a running car in the garage.
"They opened the garage door and found that the car was running and more ambulances came," Switzer said. "It was really scary."
In all, 12 EMS units were sent to the scene, Lapointe said.
"When our own staff are involved — whether it be paramedics, firefighters or police — it's a pretty frightening situation to be in," he said.
"It just increases the stress levels, but we treated this call like we would any other call."
Life's lesson:
"If an unnecessarily running car doesn't kill you, it will kill the environment!
Just dress warm, wear gloves, bite your teeth and you'll survive the cold"
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