Two families suffered severe carbon monoxide poisoning in Miami-Dade County this weekend -- one a family of five in a trailer park, the other a couple with toddler twins living in Pinecrest -- as they used gas-powered generators while waiting for power to return to their neighborhoods.
The conditions of the two families, who were airlifted to nearby hospitals, were uncertain late Sunday, according to Miami-Dade fire officials.
The invisible and odorless fumes have already claimed two lives in Broward County. Daniel McMillan, 63, and Veronica Scott, 43, died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning after McMillan left a generator running inside their home in Davie's Potter Park neighborhood, which had been without power since Thursday.
Fire officials fear more such cases in the coming days, as hundreds of thousands of people still wait for restoration of electricity cut off by Katrina.
''Unfortunately, unless people take appropriate measures, we're going to have more of these until the power is restored,'' said Lt. Eric Baum, spokesman for the Miami-Dade fire department.
The pattern of death and illness is predictable. Gas-powered generators accounted for a half-dozen deaths in the aftermath of the four hurricanes that swept through Florida last year -- and carbon monoxide poisoning sickened nearly 200 more people during the same period, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number peaked within three days after each storm's landfall -- about the time people are desperate for electricity.
At the Jones Fish Camp, a hodgepodge of about 50 trailers at Miami-Dade County's northwestern edge, generators began to hum after power went out Thursday.
On Sunday morning, neighbors watched in horror as Christian Bardales -- a 34-year-old father of three -- staggered from his trailer, clutching one of his daughters and vomiting.
'VERY DISORIENTED'
''I asked him what was wrong,'' said neighbor Ernesto Vino, who said Bardales managed to tell him the generator outside had made the family sick. ''But other than that, he didn't say nothing to me. He was very disoriented.''
Fire Rescue arrived at the trailer park minutes later.
Bardales, his wife, Ariana Leyva, and their three daughters were airlifted to a hospital, where they will likely undergo treatment in a hyperbaric chamber -- typical for victims of carbon monoxide poisonings, Baum said.
Vino said Bardales, a construction worker, was well aware of the risks of placing the generator too close to the trailer.
The family had been sharing Vino's generator since Katrina passed through, but Bardales picked up a new model Saturday afternoon. About 4:30 a.m., Bardales knocked on his neighbor's door to borrow gas -- and moved the generator slightly to refuel it. But he neglected to turn the exhaust valve away from his home afterward, Vino said.
The fumes likely seeped up through the floorboards of the trailer, which was placed on risers, Baum said.
''Carbon monoxide can go anywhere -- up through the floor, through a vent. It's undetectable,'' he said.
Neighbors said Leyva worked at a makeup counter at International Mall when she wasn't caring for the three girls -- ages 1, 7 and 10.
Bardales, Leyva and their girls were the second family airlifted by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in two days.
PINECREST FAMILY
On Saturday afternoon, Karen and Timothy Markus and their 18-month-old twins were pulled from their Pinecrest home, where they had set up two generators outside.
The Markuses had left the sliding door ajar, and a breeze may have pushed the exhaust into the home, according to neighbor and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue paramedic Arnie Johnson.
Johnson was off duty and doing yard work when he saw paramedics from his unit arrive. He jumped on his bike and rushed to help.
The twins, Michael and Shiloh, were expected to survive, Johnson said.
Their parents, however, ''were in bad shape.'' Karen, 37, and Timothy, 54, had been trying for quite some time to have children, Johnson said.
'She'd see me playing out here, playing with my kids, and say, 'I can't wait to have kids,' '' Johnson said.
Killed by the fumes was a family pet: a bull mastiff named Apple, Johnson said.
The Markuses were airlifted to Mercy Hospital, where Karen was in intensive care and her husband in the cardiac care unit Sunday evening.
Last year, improperly placed generators claimed six lives in Florida after four hurricanes passed through.
From the landfall of the first hurricane, Charley, to three weeks after the fourth storm, Jeanne, the Centers for Disease Control found that 167 people were hospitalized after being sickened by the fumes. Herald staff writer Yudy Pineiro contributed to this report.
Distributed by the Associated Press
