Twenty-nine people were hospitalized Tuesday after being exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide inside or near the Home Port Seafood cold storage facility in Bellingham, Wash.
The town’s fire department transported 16 people to nearby hospitals, including one pregnant woman; others were able to transport themselves.
Bellingham Fire Chief Bill Boyd says the department responded to an 8 a.m. call for one person who had passed out. When firefighters arrived they found others with symptoms and discovered high levels of carbon monoxide.
Boyd says the poisonous gas came from propane-powered forklifts operating in a warehouse adjacent to where the employees were working. Usually the doors to the building are open when the forklifts are being used, but they were shut Tuesday due to freezing temperatures.
