CO Exposure Leaves Woman Dead, Sickens Bloom Township, OH, Firefighters

Carbon monoxide claimed the life of an elderly woman and left 10 others, including seven firefighters, overcome.

Bloom Township firefighters, responding to a call for an unconscious person in a house, found her deceased and three others suffering symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The initial unmasked firefighter who entered the house didn't have a detector since it was broken. About five minutes later,  an alarm carried by another sounded, Bloom Township Fire Chief Thomas Williams told WSYX. 

The crew and ill residents evacuated.

Williams sent all seven on-duty personnel to the hospital to be checked out.

“Most of them (firefighters) had headaches. A couple of them were nauseous, looked like they were potentially vomiting, and a couple of them felt fine. But I just sent everybody because of the exposure that they had," the chief told a reporter, adding that some wanted to return as soon as possible.

All responders were released after monitoring. The conditions of the residents are not known. 

Several other departments responded to the incident to assist and handled other calls.

Williams said he will be reviewing the incident.

The identity of the 96-year-old victim has not been released.