Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Please get your furnace checked!
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Klute
10-17-02, 08:13 AM
10/16/2002 06:00 AM
Furnace leak kills two in home
An O'Fallon, Mo., man and his teenage daughter died, and his wife and son were hospitalized after carbon monoxide leaked from their furnace and poisoned them, authorities said.
Hari Kushwah, 42, and Aakriti Kushwah, 16, were pronounced dead Monday night at the family's home in the 100 block of Rockaway Drive. Beena Kushwah, 41, was in fair condition, and Mayank Kushwah, 15, was in serious condition Tuesday night at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield.
No carbon monoxide monitors were found in the home, said Randy Bornhop, chief of the Wentzville Fire Protection District.
"It's the same thing with smoke detectors. We can't push those things enough, and they really do save lives," he said.
Police were called to the home at about 10:40 p.m. Monday night by Beena Kushwah. She told police that her husband had suffered a heart attack. When police arrived, they found the two children and her husband unconscious; she was weak and hardly able to move.
Rick Hargraves, a spokesman for Laclede Gas, said there was a problem with the heat exchanger inside the home's furnace. The age of the home is estimated at 15 years.
Neighbors of the Kushwahs say the family had moved into the subdivision about two years ago.
Lauren Mick said that Aakriti had baby-sat for her two children about 10 times and said she had recommended the girl for her part-time job at the Wal-Mart store at Chesterfield Commons. The girl and her mother both worked at the store.
"I can't believe she's really gone," Mick said. "She was a beautiful girl. It's just very, very sad."
Mick said that Hari Kushwah loved to do yard work and always was out cutting his grass. She said she did not talk to his wife often because she did not speak English fluently.
"I don't know her well, but she raised two well-spoken, nice, clean-cut children," Mick said.
Another neighbor, Karen Golliver, said that Mayank, who was known as Michael, "had a great smile and was one of the first people in the neighborhood to put up an American flag after 9-11."
She said that despite the age gap, Michael had played football with her 10-year-old son on a few occasions.
Aakriti was a senior at Francis Howell High School; her brother was a sophomore. School officials would not confirm if the teens had been in school on Monday. Grief counselors were at the school Tuesday.
Police say they believe the Kushwahs turned on their furnace Sunday night when the temperature dipped into the 40s. They say that carbon monoxide levels in the home were too high for the furnace to have just been on for a few hours. Early signs of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache and flu-like symptoms.
The mother and son each received several treatments in hyperbaric chambers at St. Luke's on Tuesday. The chambers are pressurized with 100 percent oxygen, which helps to remove the carbon monoxide from the blood.
Hargraves said families can protect themselves from carbon monoxide poisoning by having yearly inspections on their furnace and by buying a UL-approved, alarm-sounding detector.
Furnace leak kills two in home
An O'Fallon, Mo., man and his teenage daughter died, and his wife and son were hospitalized after carbon monoxide leaked from their furnace and poisoned them, authorities said.
Hari Kushwah, 42, and Aakriti Kushwah, 16, were pronounced dead Monday night at the family's home in the 100 block of Rockaway Drive. Beena Kushwah, 41, was in fair condition, and Mayank Kushwah, 15, was in serious condition Tuesday night at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield.
No carbon monoxide monitors were found in the home, said Randy Bornhop, chief of the Wentzville Fire Protection District.
"It's the same thing with smoke detectors. We can't push those things enough, and they really do save lives," he said.
Police were called to the home at about 10:40 p.m. Monday night by Beena Kushwah. She told police that her husband had suffered a heart attack. When police arrived, they found the two children and her husband unconscious; she was weak and hardly able to move.
Rick Hargraves, a spokesman for Laclede Gas, said there was a problem with the heat exchanger inside the home's furnace. The age of the home is estimated at 15 years.
Neighbors of the Kushwahs say the family had moved into the subdivision about two years ago.
Lauren Mick said that Aakriti had baby-sat for her two children about 10 times and said she had recommended the girl for her part-time job at the Wal-Mart store at Chesterfield Commons. The girl and her mother both worked at the store.
"I can't believe she's really gone," Mick said. "She was a beautiful girl. It's just very, very sad."
Mick said that Hari Kushwah loved to do yard work and always was out cutting his grass. She said she did not talk to his wife often because she did not speak English fluently.
"I don't know her well, but she raised two well-spoken, nice, clean-cut children," Mick said.
Another neighbor, Karen Golliver, said that Mayank, who was known as Michael, "had a great smile and was one of the first people in the neighborhood to put up an American flag after 9-11."
She said that despite the age gap, Michael had played football with her 10-year-old son on a few occasions.
Aakriti was a senior at Francis Howell High School; her brother was a sophomore. School officials would not confirm if the teens had been in school on Monday. Grief counselors were at the school Tuesday.
Police say they believe the Kushwahs turned on their furnace Sunday night when the temperature dipped into the 40s. They say that carbon monoxide levels in the home were too high for the furnace to have just been on for a few hours. Early signs of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache and flu-like symptoms.
The mother and son each received several treatments in hyperbaric chambers at St. Luke's on Tuesday. The chambers are pressurized with 100 percent oxygen, which helps to remove the carbon monoxide from the blood.
Hargraves said families can protect themselves from carbon monoxide poisoning by having yearly inspections on their furnace and by buying a UL-approved, alarm-sounding detector.
handyhand
10-17-02, 01:40 PM
per statistics- I would like to know
what mechanical failure in a furnace and water heater would most likely cause the carbon monoxide gas to not vent properly?
I have a gas water heater and a High eff. furnace in the basement.
what mechanical failure in a furnace and water heater would most likely cause the carbon monoxide gas to not vent properly?
I have a gas water heater and a High eff. furnace in the basement.
Habs11
10-17-02, 02:01 PM
i have a CM detector that goes off when we spray lysol any place in our upstairs - so annoying but very much worth it!
trinitro
10-17-02, 03:38 PM
Probably improper venting and a bad heat exchanger.