Almost two dozen residents were taken to hospitals and dozens more were evacuated after a carbon monoxide leak at a condo building in southwest Miami-Dade Tuesday morning, officials said.
Sixty people were assessed at the Hemingway Villa Condos on Southwest 40th Terrace, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Danny Cardeso said. Twenty-two were taken to hospitals, but their exact conditions were not known.
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There were no fatalities, Cardeso said.
Preliminarily, the cause of the gas leak appears to be a "malfunctioning boiler in a small boiler room at the rear of the building," Cardeso said. The leak has been "controlled."
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It was not clear if the apartments were equipped with carbon monoxide alarms, which the deputy fire chief said were not required in the building.
"We did call code enforcement, and it's undetermined if code enforcement may have any concerns with other things that may be wrong with the building," Cardeso said.
The fire chief said first responders received two calls in the overnight hours. The first time, the patient was treated, the scene was cleared and personnel "thought nothing else of it," Cardeso said. First responders' carbon monoxide sensors did not go off.
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Sometime later, the fire rescue was called for additional sick people, their carbon monoxide alarms did trigger and the building was evacuated, the deputy fire chief said.
A resident told NBC6 that he woke up Tuesday morning to pounding on the door and was told to evacuate immediately.
Resident Frank Rodriguez said he saw around 40 people being treated by first responders when he stepped outside. He said they checked his oxygen levels and indicated that he was OK.
Authorities said they were ventilating the building and expected residents to be able to get back in later Tuesday, pending code enforcement approval.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas, which makes it dangerous "at any time of day," Cardeso said. Signs and symptoms of elevated carbon monoxide levels are headaches, nausea, vomiting and fainting, if the levels are high enough.
All residents are encouraged to install carbon monoxide alarms.
