Mother, three children from Hyde Park taken to hospital after carbon monoxide exposure

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

A mother from Hyde Park and her three children were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital this morning, suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, Boston fire and EMS officials said.

The residents were taken out of the single-family building on Warren Avenue at 7:38 a.m. by Boston firefighters. This afternoon, the owner of the house said he expects that his wife and three of his children will be released from Massachusetts General Hospital sometime this evening.

“We received a report of an unconscious person and found high levels of carbon monoxide at the home,” said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald. “Four occupants were transported to a nearby hospital.”

MacDonald said the fire department responded to the home at 6:52 p.m. Sunday when the family reported their carbon monoxide detector had gone off.

“We did not get any readings inside the house on our meter and firefighters advised the homeowner to replace the battery,” MacDonald said. “The gas could have dissipated by the time we got there or there could be problem with the detector.”

He said fire officials are trying to determine if the detector the fire crew used was faulty. An investigation is underway.

The owner of the house, Jean Louisia, 61, said he did not blame the fire department for leaving Sunday night.

“I figured that it was my fault, because I was opening the windows” when firefighters took the first reading last night, which may have concealed the carbon monoxide presence, Louisia said. “I can’t blame them.”

Louisia said he later closed all of the windows, and the detector went off again at about 12:30 a.m., prompting him to unplug it.

Louisia said that he received a call today from his daughter, Herline, 20, at about 6:30 a.m. as he was driving to his job as a Boston school bus driver, informing him that her siblings and mother all felt ill. Louisia immediately told his daughter to call an ambulance.

When firefighters arrived, MacDonald said, the carbon monoxide readings were high.

Louisia said he was told that his younger son, Carl, was suffering the worst effects from the exposure. He said he was initially shaken by the news.

“I know about carbon monoxide, [I thought] that’s going to be big trouble,” he said.

Louisia said a city health inspector instructed him not to turn the heat back on his house until he can return to the residence to make sure there is no danger. MacDonald said investigators pinpointed the heating system as the source of the leak and the unit was shut down.

Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for Boston EMS, said carbon monoxide, which is an odorless and tasteless gas, can quickly overpower people.

“The conditions come on pretty quickly; it starts out with dizziness and a headache,” she said. “It can become nausea and you could become unconscious.”