Hotel carbon monoxide leak sends 11 people to hospital
By CHRISTA SEGALINI
Staff Writer
CLINTON TOWN -- Eleven people were taken to the hospital early Friday for exposure to carbon monoxide when a cogenerator and exhaust pipe malfunctioned at the Holiday Inn on Route 173, authorities said.
Hunterdon County Department of Public Safety Director George Wagner said that while the conditions of those individuals transported to the hospital were unknown Friday afternoon, he did say they were all exposed to carbon monoxide -- a highly toxic, odorless, colorless and tasteless gas. At approximately 10:30 p.m. Thursday, hotel general manager Rick Sacco said, the carbon monoxide detectors in two of the hotel's guest rooms activated. At the time, Sacco said, only one of the rooms was occupied.
The Clinton Fire Department responded to the alarm activation, Wagner said.
Sacco said he did not know how many patrons were in the hotel when the carbon monoxide detectors went off, but that all of the hotel's occupants were evacuated from their rooms and brought into the hotel's lobby and then the facility's ballroom while emergency service units investigated.
"Everything was very orderly," said Sacco, who also said he believed Thursday's incident was the first time the hotel's carbon monoxide detectors had ever been activated. "The Clinton police and fire departments conducted the necessary inspections of the building, room by room, and conducted the evacuations, which provided optimum safety for our guests."
At about 1 a.m. Friday, Wagner said the Clinton Fire Department called for assistance at the scene to help with the hotel's evacuation and to treat individuals who had been exposed to the carbon monoxide.
In total, 17 emergency service units assisted at the scene -- the Hunterdon Medical Center and Somerset Medical Center paramedic units; the emergency rescue squads of Pattenburg, Quakertown, High Bridge, Hampton, Whitehouse, Amwell Valley, Kingwood, Bloomsbury, and Hillsborough; the fire departments of Quakertown, Clinton Township; and the Clinton Town and Hunterdon County offices of emergency management.
Wagner said that by 3:18 a.m. Friday, patrons of the hotel and hotel staff were allowed to re-enter the facility after an investigation of the premises. |
