Six people — three adults and three children — were treated for carbon-monoxide inhalation Tuesday morning after a vehicle was left running overnight in a garage attached to a home.
The accident happened in the 4500 block of South Jebel Way in Centennial, said Lt. Steve Curti of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
An adult parked a vehicle in the garage of the home Monday night, went inside without turning it off and then forgot it was running, Curti said.
Tuesday morning, an adult neighbor phoned the home and talked with one of the adult residents and realized the person was extremely disoriented, Curti said.
The neighbor went to the home and everyone there “thought they were suffering from food poisoning,” Curti said.
The alert neighbor suspected carbon-monoxide inhalation, rushed the five family members out of the home and phoned 911.
Emergency responders took six people, including the neighbor, to a local hospital to be treated or observed, Curti said.
One of the children was unconscious when authorities arrived, but everyone is going to be OK, Curti said.
The names of the family and the neighbor were not released.
Curti said that the scare could be attributed to “absent-mindedness” and that foul play is not suspected.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas that is often produced by fuel-burning vehicles and appliances such as furnaces and water heaters. Symptoms of carbon-monoxide exposure include headache, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting and diminished coordination.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
