Firefighters in Silver Spring, Md., evacuated an apartment building in Silver Spring, Md., after dangerous levels of carbon monoxide were detected Monday night, officials said.
The apartment building is located on the border of Silver Spring and Adelphi, Md., right off the Capitol Beltway at New Hampshire Avenue.
Prince George's County firefighters were called to the apartment complex after a hard-wired carbon monoxide detector in one of the 12-unit buildings went off, triggering automatic notification to 911.
Carbon monoxide detectors carried by the firefighters found such high levels of the deadly gas that emergency crews decided to evacuate the building.
Battalion Chief Steven Hess told NBC4, "When firefighters arrived on the scene they immediately encountered high levels of carbon monoxide right from the entrance to the building and it escalated as they continued to go and check out all the units."
"We opened the door and found that there were firefighters standing outside our door and telling everybody that we had to evacuate the building and we were told there was carbon monoxide," a resident said. "So we just ran back inside and grabbed all of our stuff and we have been sitting outside in the car."
A baby and a 3-year-old, both girls, were taken to a hospital in Baltimore for precautionary reasons.
Firefighters stressed that had there not been a working carbon monoxide detector in that building, this could have been much worse.
The detectors are installed in every building of the complex.
