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Bette John (right) of Houston waits outside the Wingate Inn after seven people were taken to the hospital yesterday for carbon monoxide exposure.
Firefighters respond to a suspicious smell and reports of guests expressing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning yesterday at the Wingate Inn in Stafford. Officials evacuated the hotel. |
Seven people were taken to the hospital yesterday after a carbon monoxide leak led to the evacuation of a Stafford County hotel.
All seven were treated at Mary Washington Hospital and released after the incident at the Wingate Inn, off U.S. 17.
The Stafford County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 hang-up call at about 9:30 a.m., said county spokeswoman Cathy Riddle.
When a dispatcher called the number back, a hotel clerk said guests were experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness.
Riddle said that when fire and rescue workers arrived at the hotel, seven people came forward complaining of the apparent symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The 118 people inside the hotel were evacuated and the seven people were taken to the hospital.
Riddle said that all seven were hotel guests, but no other information about them was available.
After the hotel was evacuated, a hazmat team began ventilating it using large fans.
When the team first entered the hotel, there were about 265 parts per million of carbon monoxide, said Stafford Assistant Fire and Rescue Chief Roger Sutherland. When they had finished ventilating about 12:30 p.m. there were only six parts per million.
The highest concentration of carbon monoxide was found in the rooms directly above a first-floor boiler room, Sutherland said.
Stafford County Fire and Rescue Chief Rob Brown said he thought the gas was escaping the boiler room through a vent.
The hotel has two boiler rooms, one in the main section and a smaller one in a section of rooms added last year, Sutherland said.
It is now up to the hotel to work with building engineers to identify and rectify the problem, he said.
Hotel Manager Carol Cortesio declined to comment on the incident.
Guests were allowed to re-enter the hotel about 1:30 p.m., Sutherland said, after the level of carbon monoxide had gone down to zero.
Among the people evacuated was a group of Medicorp employees, some from Mary Washington Hospital, who were attending a workshop on situation awareness.
The workshop has been held at the hotel every day this week.
"It [the conference] was really fun until it ended abruptly," Kelly Jackson, a clinical risk manager for Medicorp, said as she sat in the shade outside the hotel.
Yesterday's participants were sent home and assured their class would be rescheduled. Jackson said they were planning on being back in the hotel conference room today.
Guests who evacuated the hotel were not left to fend for themselves in the muggy heat.
Two school buses were driven over and guests and workers were given the option of sitting on the air conditioned buses while they waited to re-enter the hotel.
Pitchers of ice water were also brought for those waiting outside.
Hotel guest Bette John, who has been staying at the hotel for about a month, left her room without even grabbing a pair of shoes.
John said she was in her room when she heard the fire alarm go off. She called the front desk to see if it was a drill and when she heard that it wasn't, she instantly left her room.
"I walked down the stairs like you're supposed to with no shoes," she said.
Someone was able to get into the hotel gift shop and provide John with a purple pair of slippers, which she wore outside on the sidewalk.
The 93-room hotel opened in October 2000. A conference center was opened in 2003 and 38 new rooms were added last year.
Assistant Falmouth Fire Chief Kevin Good said it was fortunate that this happened during the day.
Carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas, is often called "the silent killer" because it can easily go unnoticed.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, carbon monoxide is responsible for more than 450 deaths per year.
To reach JESSICA SCHONBERG:
Email: jschonberg@freelancestar.com
