MENU
LIBERTY, Mo. (KCTV) – One person was sent to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning after a scare Sunday morning at a Taco Bell in Liberty. Two other people were treated for CO poisoning, but they did not require a trip to the hospital.
It happened at the Taco Bell between Elizabeth Street and Orchard Avenue off 291-Highway. Liberty FD said the carbon monoxide levels were considered dangerous.
“I was told we were standing in fatal amounts of carbon monoxide,” said Drew Wilmeth, who is the opening shift lead at the Taco Bell location. “I was told that 500 [parts per million] is fatal in minutes, and we were standing in 285.”
An employee reached out to the fire department Sunday morning after staff members had complained of symptoms over their last two shifts. When Liberty FD arrived on scene and started measuring the carbon monoxide levels, they told the restaurant employees to leave immediately.
“The levels were in the mid-200′s [parts per million],” said Liberty Assistant Fire Chief, Christopher Young. “That’s unsafe.”
“Once they got near the fryer and the cooking stuff in the back, they immediately were like ‘Get out, now. Just get out. Leave,” said Wilmeth. “We all quickly jumped up and ran out.”
According to industry experts (Carbon Monoxide Levels | Kidde), people will start to feel headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and nausea when carbon monoxide is at 200 PPM. Closer to 400, it can become deadly after three hours.
“There wasn’t a person at work who didn’t complain about their eyes burning, or having a headache, or feeling nauseous, or anything like that,” said Wilmeth.
Liberty fire says the culprit for the dangerously high carbon monoxide level was a faulty ventilation fan that has since been repaired.
“They had their maintenance crews, Taco Bell maintenance crews, come out,” said Young. “They remedied the problem. Since then, all the levels are down to an acceptable level.”
While the issue is fixed, the Taco Bell employee who spoke to KCTV5 wants to see systems in place to prevent Sunday’s scene from happening again.
“I would think if there was a significant carbon monoxide problem at a place of business, that there would be detectors in level that are that bad for us,” Wilmeth said.
The Taco Bell location remained closed on Sunday night. It is scheduled to reopen on Monday morning.
Taco Bell employees in Liberty worried after carbon monoxide scare (kctv5.com)
