Fire Department

A west-side man said his car had been sitting in the frigid cold for three days before he decided to start it up and pull it into the garage. About an hour later, his basement carbon monoxide alarm activated.

Ladder Company 7 entered the townhouse with Sensit monitor in hand and worked their way to the basement, where CO levels began to rise. Although there was a furnace in the basement's small utility room, the CO levels peaked at their highest level (120 parts per million) in the garage. MGE was asked to respond, and firefighters began to open up the house to ventilate.

The crew knocked on doors on each side of the unit to make sure carbon monoxide levels were not elevated in those units. The neighboring units were unaffected.

Once CO levels returned to 0 parts per million, firefighters closed up the townhouse and turned the furnace back on to observe the CO levels. The furnace ran for about 10-15 minutes without another increase in carbon monoxide. Having ruled out the furnace as a source, the culprit turned out to be the running vehicle.

Safety Tip: When warming up your car during these cold winter months, do so with the garage door open. Better yet, back your car onto the driveway and out of the garage altogether.