(FLORISSANT, Mo., AP) – A St. Louis County mother saved the day on Mother’s Day after finding relatives unresponsive in their beds, authorities said.
Names of the woman and her relatives have not been released. All were apparently victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Victims ranged in age from less than a year old to age 44. All were taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The exact number of people in the home was unclear but police believe there were nine. It wasn’t clear how many were children of the woman credited with saving everyone.
Florissant police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the woman was nauseous at around 8 a.m. Sunday. She checked on others, found them unresponsive in their beds, and called for help. By the time police and firefighters arrived they found the woman carrying children out of the house.
Firefighters believe carbon monoxide leaked into the house because the attic fan was running with the windows closed, causing exhaust from the furnace to be pulled back into the house.
Rick Ruhmann, deputy chief of the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District, said the mother recalled getting up in the night to turn on the furnace because the house had grown cool. She may not have known the attic fan was still on, or that the windows were closed.
Florissant police officer Andy Haarmann said the mother thought it was unusual when she woke up that no one else was already up.
“Mom really saved the day on Mother’s Day. Had she not woken up, this would have been a really serious situation. It was a very close call,” he said.