LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Several Lincoln Fire & Rescue crews responded to a gas leak at the Kindler Hotel on Tuesday.
Crews were sent to the hotel near 11th and P streets around 3:20 p.m. on a fire alarm call.
LFR Battalion Chief Jeremy Gegg said it turned out to be a gas leak, and a couple of rooms had high levels of carbon monoxide.
People were evacuated, and firefighters went through the hotel and the adjacent Misty’s Steakhouse to find the source of the gas leak.
Eventually, crews found that two water heaters were malfunctioning, and they started ventilating the hotel.
Gegg said the carbon monoxide level was as high as 70 parts per million, which is dangerously high.
He said it’s a good reminder that as we go into the cooler months, it’s important to check your appliances.
“Really, the best thing to do is just work with a heating and air contractor to have them thoroughly check your furnace before the heating season,” Gegg said.
And if you think something is off, always call your local fire department.
“Even if you feel fine and you might think that the carbon monoxide detector is just malfunctioning, there is definitely a likelihood that it’s doing its job,” Gegg said.
“You worry about things like a car accident. You know, drinking and driving, something like that. You don’t think about your child going to their friend’s house and dying of carbon monoxide poisoning…”
Jodi Semonell says her son 19-year-old Cole Oban was at a friend, Thomas Coleman’s house, when both boys died along with Thomas’ dad David Coleman and their family dog.
WAKEFIELD, Neb. — “Five people were hospitalized after a carbon monoxide incident at a bowling alley on Main Street in Wakefield Friday night. Shortly before 10:30 p.m. Friday, Wakefield Fire and Rescue was dispatched to the establishment at 311 Main St., “for a suspected gas leak with people down,” according to a press release from the Dixon County Sheriff’s Office.”
No deaths and no injuries at this sorority house at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln…they had CO alarms, and they evacuated to fresh air and called 911 when they heard them going off. A model of what all CO exposure incidents should look like.
Just as the lunch rush hit downtown Lincoln, several employees at the popular lunch joint Noodles and Company on 14th and ‘P’ started feeling sick. Fire crews were called in and that’s when they detected high levels of carbon monoxide filling the building. The eatery was quickly evacuated, setting off alarm bells for the restaurant next door.
“I didn’t know exactly what was going on, being neighbors with them, then all of the sudden they started checking our place and said ‘oh you need to get out now’ and so I’m, thinking well I don’t smell smoke it’s not a fire then I realized it was CO and some of their employees started showing the symptoms so,” Ian Peterson, general manager at Wahoo’s tacos, said.
Crews say the restaurant forgot to turn on their kitchen vent system while they were cooking, and gas from their appliances built up, causing one employee to be taken to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning. They also say two gas appliances were faulty.
The restaurant next door, Wahoo’s Taco, and the residents upstairs were also evacuated. The general manager of Wahoo’s walked us through how the system works.
“With the hood vents, if you don’t have them on and you’re cooking all that co is going to build up and you don’t really notice it until you have the symptoms, you get nauseous someone passes out, so that’s what happened, we had ours on but we don’t wish that on anyone,” Peterson said.
Noodles and Company says it’ll be closed until they fix their appliances. Officials say all employees were allowed back in about an hour later and everyone is expected to be okay.
We reached out to Noodles and Company for comment; they declined to speak to us, saying they are still investigating what happened.
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