Dozens rushed to hospital after carbon monoxide leak at Winnipeg hotel By: Tessa Vanderhart Posted: 2:16 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 9, 2019 Last Modified: 10:09 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 9, 2019 Updates

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This article was published 08/07/2019 (1951 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 40 people are recovering after carbon monoxide levels 10 times higher than what is safe were detected at the Super 8 hotel on Portage Avenue.

The building was evacuated of its 52 occupants and one dog, officials said.

Steve Brglez, acting platoon chief for Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, said 15 people were initially listed as critical because of high carbon monoxide readings in their blood.

"They were transported critical based on that reading and other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, a decrease in level consciousness," he said.

Tuesday afternoon, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority confirmed it appears everyone will pull through. A few people remained under supervision in hospital, officials said.

Emergency crews were called at 10:19 a.m. by an automatic carbon monoxide detector in the boiler room, said WFPS Chief John Lane.

Levels were as high as 385 parts per million, while a safe level is 20 to 30 parts per million, Lane said.

Justin Schinkel, owner of the Super 8, said he expected to have more information about what caused the incident on Wednesday.

Schinkel told reporters that the Super 8 recently passed a fire inspection and has never had a carbon monoxide leak before. Lane said a fire inspection would primarily include checking that the boiler had been inspected by other officials.

"It’s the worst imaginable feeling, all of a sudden, something bad like this happens, you don’t know the extent of it," Schinkel said. "We’re just super happy that the first responders are so helpful and they’ve been able to get here so quick and help us out here."

One hotel worker remained in hospital Tuesday afternoon receiving oxygen, according to her father, Ken St. George, in a post on Facebook.

"Our daughter works there … she is on continuous oxygen at the Grace, and is stabilizing … thank God," he wrote in a post on Facebook. "Hope all staff and patrons come out of this whole."

Lane said odorless carbon monoxide binds 200 times more strongly to the hemoglobin in blood than oxygen does — so it prevents people from getting oxygen to their cells.

"It’s not a pleasant experience," said Brent Brooks, in town from Flin Flon and a guest of the Super 8. "I’ve had it (carbon monoxide poisoning) before, I’ve worked underground for years."

His wife started feeling ill first, then his 15-year-old son, and they were taken away by ambulance. He was taken to hospital later, after a finger-prick test showed he had 27 per cent carbon monoxide in his blood.

According to the University of Rochester, a normal level for an adult is around two per cent; heavy smokers can have up to eight or nine per cent carbon monoxide in their blood.

Sergiy Bolshakov said he was watching TV in his room when he started feeling ill and noticed a headache. But he didn’t realize something was wrong until fire crews came to knock on the door.

They basically “kicked us from (the) room, but (in) a good way,” he said. He and his business partner, Oleg Lugovsky, were taken to hospital, where it was determined they had 20 per cent CO in their blood.

They were given oxygen and eventually got the all-clear to return to the hotel.

More Sergiy on the carbon monoxide incident at the Super 8 on west Portage this morning. pic.twitter.com/ui3Cnq5xYx

— Tessa Vanderhart (@tessavanderhart) July 9, 2019

“It’s my first day in Winnipeg, but I’m sure the rest of the days will be better,” he said.

He plans to stay at the Super 8 for the rest of his 18-day business trip from Toronto.

“No no no, why?” he said when asked if he would switch hotels. “What’s happened, it could happen anywhere.”

The hotel was cleared for re-entry after 2 p.m. and guests began to return — some only to get their bags and go.

The Mulolani family drove in from Moose Jaw Tuesday afternoon and said they hadn’t gotten a call from the hotel warning them what happened. "With young children, it’s not a risk you want to take," said Kathryn Mulolani. They said the hotel provided them a room at the Motel 6 motel nearby in Headingley.

The supervisor of the Chicken Chef restaurant next door commended the work of emergency crews to get people out of the three-storey hotel quickly.

"It was pretty overwhelming, seeing the whole street blocked… It was crazy,” said Nicholas Walker.

Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen said carbon monoxide poisonings usually happen in the winter when furnaces are pushed to the max — not in July.

“That just doesn’t compute,” Owen said. “So something else had to have happened recently at the hotel to have caused this.”

“It’s caused by the incomplete or improper ventilation of some gas-powered combustion, be it a furnace, be it a dryer, be it a propane barbecue,” he said. “I don’t know what caused it today, that’s what we’re trying to nail down.”

He said it would likely be caused by a natural-gas or propane-powered appliance.

He said measuring people’s exposure in parts per million is difficult because different bodies and ages process it differently, plus rooms might have had different levels of exposure in their rooms.

“Nobody required resuscitation at the scene, which is a good sign,” he said.

“If people are experiencing a light headache, nausea, shortage of breath, and they’re just lethargic — that’s a sign of carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said.

“If any lesson is to be learned in this, it’s that you, too… should have have a CO detector where you live," Owen said. "I’ve got three of them.”

— with files from Canadian Press

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca @tessavanderhart