Dodging death

Wow, this was close. We almost had a full-blown tragedy on our hands.

From Brian Chasnoff of the Express-News:

Fire officials evacuated more than 200 people from a downtown hotel early Sunday after sickened guests led to the discovery of a carbon monoxide leak.

Two guests — a 45-year-old woman and her toddler daughter — were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning but had recovered by sunrise, Fire Department spokeswoman Deborah Foster said.

Paramedics were called to the Hotel Mimosa Riverwalk in the 500 block of South St. Mary's Street around 12:30 a.m. for a report of a sick person. The female guest was complaining of nausea and a headache; a carbon monoxide monitor applied to her and the toddler tested positive.

“It was found that they had pretty high levels of carbon monoxide in their systems,” Foster said.

Fire officials evacuated the guests — 178 adults and 28 children — to the lobby of a hotel across the street. About 33 families were moved to alternate lodgings for the night, Foster said. The rest returned to their rooms later.

...

Eric Wilson, 42, a hotel guest who'd been evacuated, said paramedics told him the leak was connected to “a boiler problem.”

A resident of Tampa, Wilson had traveled to San Antonio with his 15-year-old daughter to attend an Air Force graduation. He stood outside the hotel after sunrise on Sunday, smoking a cigarette and mulling the misadventure.

“If (the leak) had continued without anybody noticing, how bad could it have gotten? Nobody knows,” Wilson said. “If somebody hadn't gotten sick, carbon monoxide is going to kill you.”

Wilson's right. This could have been a lot worse. I'm glad the guests are OK, though.