7 overcome by fumes in Round Lake Park
Seven people are recovering after being overcome by fumes from a gas-powered portable generator in their Round Lake Park house late Monday, authorities said.
Greater Round Lake Park Fire Protection District Chief Paul Maplethorpe said a meter reading outside the home's front door registered a carbon monoxide level of 850 parts per million — well above the 30 to 50 parts per million considered dangerous.
Round Lake Park Police Chief George Filenko said the generator was in the basement of a single-family house that was without electricity in the 100 block of North Clifton Drive. He said an air-conditioning unit was being powered by the generator.
Authorities said a 47-year-old man, a 27-year-old woman and four children ranging from 5 to 18 years old suffered carbon monoxide poisoning in the Clifton Drive house. The seven were taken by ambulances for treatment at Centegra Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry and Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, and were reported to be recovering Tuesday.
Filenko and Maplethorpe said what happened Monday night served as another example of why gas-powered portable generators must be placed outside when in use.
“The carbon monoxide overtook everybody in the house,” Filenko said.
A dispatcher who handled the emergency call at 9:15 p.m. Monday was informed three people were on the ground and other people were screaming in the background, Filenko said. He said authorities didn't immediately know what kind of call they were responding to, and the first police officer on the scene saw a woman lying on the ground with a crowd of neighbors around her.
Maplethorpe said firefighters handled two other carbon monoxide calls related to the use of portable generators.
At 10:30 p.m. Monday, authorities were sent to a home in the 100 block of East Pineview Drive in Round Lake Park near where the first incident occurred on Clifton. He said there were at least two individuals overcome by fumes, but additional details were not immediately available.
Maplethorpe said the other call, at a little after midnight Tuesday, was at a home on Meadowgreen Lane in Round Lake Beach. Specifics also were not available for that call.