9 Sent To Hospital After Charcoal Grill Used For Heat: Fire Dept.

WHEELING, IL — Nine people were taken to a hospital after rescuers were called to a house where a family had been using a charcoal grill to heat the inside of a house Wednesday, according to a Wheeling Fire Department. Those evacuated included three children, one just two months old.

Firefighters were dispatched around 1 p.m. to a home in the first block of East Jeffrey Lane for a report that a person had fainted. Arriving fire crews found dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide, measuring more than 400 parts per million, according to the department.

The occupants of the home did not have a functioning detector for the odorless and invisible gas being generated by a charcoal grill, firefighters found.

Carbon monoxide concentrations of that level, more than twice the maximum allowed even for a moment under Occupational Safety and Health regulations, can be life threatening within hours, according to public health officials. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends no more than 1 hour of exposure to any air above 35 parts per million.

All nine people made ill by the grill were taken to local hospitals by ambulances from the Wheeling and Northbrook fire departments. Five were taken to Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview, two to Lutheran General in Park Ridge and two to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. All patients were in stable condition.

Firefighters urged the public not to ever use an oven or grill to heat up a home, but making soup or stews and boiling water can help minimize temperature loss and increase humidity inside.