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Five people felled by carbon monoxide in Oakland Gds.

By Patrick Donachie

Rescue crews responding to a Bayside home early Tuesday morning found it filling with dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. They rescued five people from the potentially lethal situation.The FDNY arrived at 226-04 77th Ave. in Oakland Gardens at about 5:30 a.m. Upon arrival, rescue crews found two children and three adults inside the house, the FDNY said.

One of the victims was taken to Nassau County Medical Center and was in serious condition, while the other four were in serious, but not life-threatening, condition at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, according to an FDNY spokesman.

Con Edison was alerted shortly after 6 a.m. and traveled to the home. Readings at the house indicated a carbon monoxide level of 500 parts per million (PPM) inside the home, according to Con Ed spokesman Bob McGee. McGee said the high CO levels were caused by a malfunctioning heating unit, which was shut off.

A statement posted on the FDNY Facebook page early Tuesday afternoon included a brief about the event from FDNY Lt.Thomas R. Minelli, who was one of the first responders to the house. In the post, he cautioned how catastrophic the situation could have been and stressed the danger that carbon monoxide poisoning poses.

“‘We heard children crying in the bedroom and we realized the carbon monoxide was really starting to climb,’” Minelli stated in the Facebook posting. “You can’t smell or see CO in the atmosphere. It happens so quickly, you don’t even realize it. You could be overtaken so fast.’”

The Facebook posting concluded by suggesting that readers visit on.nyc.gov/CarbonMonoxide to learn more about preventing carbon monoxide poisoning, and asked residents to make sure they have a working CO detector in the home at all times.