Carbon monoxide sends 5 to the hospital

WEST VALLEY CITY — Thida Moukdahan was used to hearing the cry of her baby in the morning, but not like this.

"The baby was crying a lot, more than usual," Moukdahan said. "I got up to find out what was wrong with her, and that's when I could smell gas. I felt dizzy and my head was spinning. I got everyone else. I told them to get out, this is a serious matter."

In that moment, Moukdahan helped her family avoid a potential tragedy early Tuesday when a problem with the family's furnace spread carbon monoxide into their home, located near 3300 West and 4000 South.

After Moukdahan woke everyone up, she said they immediately called 911.

After the call was placed at about 6:30 a.m., firefighters, paramedics and employees of Questar Gas arrived. Five of the home's six occupants were sent to the hospital where they were given oxygen and placed in a hyperbaric chamber, which is a sealed room where 100 percent oxygen can be given. No one was seriously injured in the incident.

West Valley Fire Capt. Joe White said the family was "very lucky." He said everyone in the home except the father was complaining of headaches and dizziness.

When fire crews arrived, they detected high levels of carbon monoxide in the house and called for Questar. Workers were able to determine the cause of the problem and fix it. Moukdahan said after the furnace was fixed and windows and doors were opened to clear out the home, the family was able to return.

While the whole incident lasted less than 12 hours, Moukdahan said it was a wake-up call for her and her family. She said she learned of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning from television programs and reading the news, but had never taken safety measures in her own home.

"I learned about it, but I didn't even bother to go buy the detector," she said. "From now on, I would recommend that everyone who lives in the (Salt Lake) valley and doesn't have one, to go get one, because this is a serious problem. I don't want anyone to be like myself."

She said exposure to the noxious gas made her feel dizzy and nauseated, caused her eyes to sting and made her feel like her "heart was going to shoot out of (her) chest." She said that in 10 years of living in the home, she had never once had the furnace checked, but planned on doing so annually after Tuesday's scare.

While the Moukdahans were lucky, without proper maintenance and prevention, carbon monoxide can be fatal, officials reiterated.

"Obviously the best way to avoid a situation like this is have your furnace serviced regularly by qualified people," White said. "CO monitors in the house are very important. They are as important as smoke detectors. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas. You don't know that it's present until you start to have symptoms. It's a killer. There are people who die from CO poisoning every year."

e-mail: preavy@desnews.com, emorgan@desnews.com