ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
An unvented, malfunctioning gas furnace sent a Scott's Machinery Service employee to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning Monday afternoon. He was treated with oxygen and released.
Calvin Muse felt ill around noon and asked to go home, according to J. Max Scott, the business' owner. Soon after leaving work, Muse went to a hospital, where he was given oxygen for about two hours, according to District Fire Chief James A. Patton Jr.
Patton said the unvented natural-gas furnace is suspected of elevating the carbon monoxide level in the business to a dangerous level. Long-term exposure can be fatal.
Scott, whose business is at 2425 Baker Ave. N.W., said the building has been heated in the same manner for the 16 years it has been there.
Firefighters entered the building with oxygen masks on and carbon monoxide detectors in hand. They found elevated levels of the poisonous gas and used fans to ventilate the building.
Scott said he did not feel sick, but had been in and out of the building most of the day. He said the two employees who worked with him Monday complained of headaches.
D.B. Pope, an emergency medical services supervisor, said the worst case of carbon monoxide poisoning he remembers was caused by a faulty furnace in the crawl space of a house.
``By the time we got there, two people were in cardiac arrest,'' Pope said.
Two of the four people in the house died that day, according to Pope, who explained the the gas chemically bonds to the oxygen in a person's blood and prevents it from reaching the brain and heart.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB