MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Officials said Julius West Middle School in Rockville was evacuated following a carbon monoxide leak on Monday.
In a post on the X platform, Pete Piringer with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services said crews were called to the middle school on Great Falls Road around 11:30 a.m. for a carbon monoxide alarm.
Piringer said crews were monitoring the CO levels. The leak was possibly coming from the boiler room.
As of Monday afternoon, there were no reported injuries or illnesses.
Piringer said an early dismissal plan was being organized for students.
Julius West Middle School evacuated due to carbon monoxide leak | DC News Now
Release Date: July 02, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric announced today 22 awardees of a grant program aimed at preventing carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. The state and local governments were selected by CPSC, from a group of 31 applicants. CPSC will provide more than $3 million in federal Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Grant Program (COPPGP) funds that will be matched by $1 million in recipient funds. This will fund state and local government efforts to reduce deaths and injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Grant Program Awards
| Awardee |
State |
Award Amount |
| Alaska Department of Public Safety |
Alaska |
$100,000.00 |
| City of Huntington Beach |
California |
$53,400.00 |
| City & County of Denver |
Colorado |
$82,500.00 |
| Government of District of Columbia |
District of Columbia |
$130,000.00 |
| State of Georgia Department of Public Health |
Georgia |
$178,577.93 |
| City of Aurora |
Illinois |
$51,000.00 |
| Louisiana State Fire Marshal |
Louisiana |
$37,500.00 |
| Maryland Department of State Police |
Maryland |
$200,000.00 |
| City of Boston |
Massachusetts |
$260,031.75 |
| City of Pontiac |
Michigan |
$300,000.00 |
| Minnesota Department of Public Safety |
Minnesota |
$200,000.00 |
| New Hampshire Department of Safety |
New Hampshire |
$90,772.50 |
| City of Jamestown |
New York |
$176,297.23 |
| City of Syracuse |
New York |
$50,000.00 |
| County of Rockland |
New York |
$100,000.00 |
| Gates Fire District |
New York |
$50,000.00 |
| City of Akron |
Ohio |
$76,460.00 |
| City of Portland |
Oregon |
$320,000.00 |
| City of Sevierville |
Tennessee |
$41,250.00 |
| Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance |
Tennessee |
$300,000.00 |
| Vermont Department of Public Safety |
Vermont |
$50,772.01 |
| Central Pierce Fire & Rescue |
Washington |
$187,500.00 |
CPSC’s grant program is authorized through the Nicholas and Zachary Burt Memorial Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2022 to provide eligible state, local, and tribal governments with grants to purchase and install CO alarms in residential homes and dwelling units of low-income families or elderly people and facilities that serve children or the elderly, including childcare centers, public schools and senior centers, and to develop training and public education programs with the goal of preventing CO poisoning. This legislation was sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) in the Senate, and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Georgia) and Rep. Annie Kuster (D-New Hampshire) in the House. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on March 15, 2022.
“Following the deaths of two boys from carbon monoxide poisoning in their home, Congress enacted this grant program to prevent future tragedies. I am pleased that we are moving forward with these 22 grants to states and localities that will enable them to educate their residents and prevent CO poisoning in their communities,” said CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric.
Grantees will have two years to use the funding to purchase and install CO alarms and complete training and education efforts.
The burning of fuels produces CO, which is a colorless, odorless gas. Exposure to unhealthy levels of CO can lead to CO poisoning, a serious health condition that could result in death. Unintentional CO poisoning from motor vehicles and fuel-burning appliances, such as furnaces, water heaters, portable generators, and stoves, annually kill more than 400 individuals. CO alarms save lives and should be installed on every level and outside sleeping areas in residences.
Visit CPSC’s Carbon Monoxide Information Center to learn more about the dangers of CO and how to protect families from invisible killer. https://www.cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Carbon-Monoxide-Information-Center
CPSC Awards More than $3.0 Million in Grants to 22 State and Local Governments to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning | CPSC.gov
Frederick, Maryland –
“Trace levels” of carbon monoxide were found Tuesday in a Hood College dorm that is now closed for the rest of the semester, the school said.
One student said she was diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Smith Hall, a dorm next to the chapel at Hood, was evacuated twice since Friday after problems with a boiler, according to students in the dorm.
The Hood College website says 135 students live in the dorm.
Smith Hall was first evacuated in the early morning hours of Friday when a boiler was emitting smoke, students said. They were allowed to return Friday night.
However, the college evacuated the building again Tuesday morning after it “became aware of one student who was diagnosed with carbon monoxide exposure,” Mason Cavalier, a spokesman for the college, wrote in an email.
“Some trace levels of carbon monoxide were found in a couple of spaces in the building. These levels were slightly elevated, but within a range that is deemed acceptable,” he wrote.
He did not provide details on what caused the elevated levels of carbon monoxide.
Sarah Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services, wrote in a text message Wednesday that Fire and Rescue responded and found elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the boiler room. Fire and Rescue did not take anyone to the hospital.
Kris Ventura, a freshman social work major, and Victoria Rego, a freshman biology pre-veterinary sciences major, said they went to Frederick Health Hospital with other friends Tuesday morning to get tested for carbon monoxide exposure after the college recommended students do so if they were concerned.
Both said they had been experiencing flu and cold symptoms, as well as lightheadedness and headaches, since Thursday.
By later in the day Tuesday, many of the residents had gone to a hospital to get tested, either in Frederick or at hospitals in their hometowns, Ventura said.
A lot of people posted updates on the social media app Snapchat, Ventura and Alix Parks, another Smith Hall resident and freshman social work major, said.
According to Cavalier, the college worked with FHH to arrange for students to get tested for carbon monoxide exposure if they wanted to. To the college’s knowledge, no students who were tested were admitted to the hospital, he said.
The school also is not aware of any students with carbon monoxide poisoning, because the test results were confidential, he said.
At the FHH emergency room, Ventura said, a doctor told her that her blood levels showed mild carbon monoxide poisoning. She was put on oxygen, and given medication for nausea and the headache, which cleared her symptoms.
Rego said a doctor told her she had carbon monoxide exposure, but it wasn’t bad enough that she needed to be put on oxygen.
Both Ventura and Parks said another student had carbon monoxide poisoning and went to a hospital where he lived. The News-Post was unable to reach the student to corroborate that account.
Parks said on Wednesday that her symptoms, most notably a headache, began Tuesday morning.
Parks said she spent the weekend at a relative’s house because she didn’t feel safe in Smith Hall. She returned to the dorm before the Tuesday morning alarm.
She went to FHH later on Tuesday night because her headache was worsening.
Because the emergency room was busy, she was put on oxygen first, then later had her blood tested, she said. She said that when her blood was tested, there weren’t elevated levels of carbon monoxide in her blood.
Parks and Ventura are currently living at their homes in Frederick or with family friends in Frederick. Rego, who is from Massachusetts, is staying at the Clarion Inn until her flight on Dec. 13.
She said she’s there with about 24 other students who need to stay for the short-term. Students who were planning to stay on campus over winter break were moved to different dorms, she said. The college is trying to figure out transportation and food for the students until they need to leave.
Cavalier wrote in an email that students staying on campus were provided with alternative accommodations. Asked about the students’ account of their hotel stays, Cavalier said he could not immediately get information about that.
The first evacuation, on Friday, happened around 3 a.m., students said. A boiler was emitting smoke.
Students were moved to the Whitaker Campus Center while authorities went through the building to determine whether the building was safe to reenter.
However, it wasn’t until hours later — around 8 a.m. — that students received a specific update, that they had a small window of time to grab enough things in their rooms for a day, they said.
After a hectic night and no place to stay or sleep, Ventura said, she was seeing her dormmates find anywhere they could sleep.
“You would walk in the library and there … would be people sleeping in chairs. There were people sleeping on tables wherever they could find,” she said.
They were allowed back in dorms Friday night, the students said. They had been unable to access their rooms and belongings for 16 hours, Rego said.
But on Tuesday morning, the fire alarm in the dorm went off again, around 7 a.m.
The college set off the fire alarm “out of an abundance of caution” after learning that one student was exposed to carbon monoxide, according to an email from the college to students.
Students said the college reported that the boiler was malfunctioning, but has not provided more details.
After the second fire alarm on Tuesday, the college closed the dorm and told students it would be closed until the spring semester, which starts in January.
With finals ongoing, the college said in its emails that faculty and staff were notified of the students’ situations, and that it would provide alternative spaces for those who wanted to stay on campus, such as other residence halls.
https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/schools/higher_ed/hood/hood-college-students-exposed-to-carbon-monoxide-after-boiler-malfunction/article_cd13f77d-f5b5-5adc-bd95-728e976cd427.html
“Crews arrived on the scene to find all four occupants, two adults and two children, had evacuated the home and were suffering from CO poisoning symptoms.
Firefighters entered the residence and found CO levels of 500 PPM along with a generator which was running in the basement.
Preliminarily, the residence was found to have no power with one or more gas generators in the basement powering appliances in the residence.”
“…rescue crews were called…for an individual experiencing seizures… When crews arrived and got about 20 feet to 30 feet inside the building, carbon monoxide detectors they wear began activating… A total of 35 people were exposed to carbon monoxide and 10 were taken to the hospital…”
Carbon monoxide at Home Depot distribution center sends 10 to hospital (heraldmailmedia.com)
Baltimore, MD –
“Baltimore City fire officials say dozens of residents were evacuated from four apartment buildings in Northwest Baltimore after extremely high levels of carbon monoxide were detected…”
1 Adult And 2 Children Taken To Hospital Following Carbon Monoxide Incident On Sunday – CBS Baltimore (cbslocal.com)
“A new Fire Protection Research Foundation report highlights the nation’s enduring CO problem”
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nfpa/journal_2021spring/index.php?startid=20#/p/20
SEVERNA PARK, Md. —
Fire officials had to evaluate several employees at a Severna Park restaurant after increased levels of carbon monoxide were found Tuesday.
Anne Arundel County Fire responded to the Noodles & Company in the 500 block of Ritchie Highway just after 6:15 p.m.
Seven people exhibited lightheadedness and headaches, the department said. Two people were taken to the hyperbaric chamber at the University of Maryland Medical Center, two people were taken to University of Maryland Medical Center, two people were taken to Baltimore-Washington Medical Center and one person was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center.
Hazmat crews were called in to investigate the source of the leak. Crews said the source came from a hood on top of the stove that was not ventilating properly.
CO leak sickens 7 at Severna Park restaurant (wbaltv.com)
“Fifteen workers at the Chevys Fresh Mex restaurant at Arundel Mills mall were hospitalized yesterday after being exposed to carbon monoxide. The restaurant hood and duct system in the kitchen malfunctioned…”
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-07-09-0507090369-story.html
Princess Royale Hotel – Ocean City, MD
https://www.newspapers.com/image/373655224
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