By George Barnes and Danielle Williamson
Telegram & Gazette
TEMPLETON, Mass. — With the town out of power and the storm still adding ice to trees and roads Friday, Templeton firefighters and members of the Templeton Fire Department’s auxiliary prepared for the worst in the Templeton Center fire station, moving trucks outside to be ready to handle emergencies, closing the garage doors and firing up two generators.
The act of bringing heat and light to the station nearly proved fatal to six firefighters and two members of the auxiliary who were helping with food.
Fire Chief Thomas Smith said the station’s backup generator is built into the station and properly vented to the outside of the building, but it malfunctioned, filling the garage and the main part of the station with carbon monoxide. One firefighter was found unconscious outside, and others inside were also affected by the fumes. Carbon monoxide has no odor or color, and the firefighters and auxiliary members were unable to detect it until they were suffering its effects.
There was no detector in the garage because the firefighters normally work on their vehicles outside or with the garage doors open. Because the trucks were outside, the doors were closed.
It could have been deadly, but the chief said all the people affected were treated and released from Heywood Hospital in Gardner, except one who was treated and kept overnight for observation. He was released in the morning.
Chief Smith said the incident at the fire station is different from a typical residential carbon monoxide problem, but it points to a danger residents face during storms.
“We’ve transported quite a few already due to high CO (carbon monoxide) readings in their residences,” he said.
Chief Smith said the cases are mostly caused by generators used in houses or near houses.
“If they use a generator, it has to be done right,” he said.
The chief said generators should be used outside of homes and far enough away from the building to keep the fumes from getting inside.
Generators have saved many homes from freezing during this ice storm crisis, but improper use can be dangerous. Royalston Selectman Jon Hardie said Public Works Department workers and volunteers in his town have encountered an extremely hazardous situation involving generators.
“We’ve had a number of people illegally connecting generators to their houses without properly connecting the wires. When a generator is wired in to run a furnace or house electrical system, the main breaker in the house should be shut down. Mr. Hardie said those who failed to shut down the breaker were backfeeding electricity into the system. What that meant was that supposedly dead power lines workers were moving were being charged with electricity.
“They end up putting workers at risk,” he said. “They could get electrocuted picking up supposedly dead wires.”
Mr. Hardie said no workers were injured, but they could have been. Most probably lacked special protective boots and gloves to prevent shocks because they were assuming the lines were dead.
The storm has also been difficult on people who are frail or already ill. In Gardner, Mayor Mark Hawke said six people died during the storm and their deaths may have been accelerated by the weather. All died of coronary problems, but the mayor said the combination of the storm hitting, knocking power out and leaving the residents isolated in their homes in the cold may have been enough stress to cause heart attacks.
The mayor said the city is encouraging residents to check on their neighbors and family members. Even as more and more homes get power, some people are still at risk.
Ambulance services have been handling a variety of calls since the storm hit, some storm-related and others routine.
Nicholas V. Melehov, vice president of MedStar Ambulance, said he has staffed his Leominster, Fitchburg and Worcester locations with extra dispatchers, paramedics and EMTs since the storm hit.
State regulations normally require ambulance providers to bring patients to a hospital, but with the state of emergency, the rule was temporarily waived and companies have been able to take needy residents to shelters.
“Our shelter runs are way up, mostly among the elderly,” Mr. Melehov said. “I don’t want to say it’s being abused, but we’re being pushed to the limit.”
Calls from people with chest pain and anxiety have increased, he said.
“Our chief complaints are similar to the usual ones, but there are a lot more of them,” Mr. Melehov said. “There’s a lot of chest pain due to anxiety. People are cold and they don’t know when they’re going to get their heat back. Then there are people on home oxygen units who don’t have power.”
MedStar and the Leominster and Fitchburg fire departments have donated oxygen to many who have run out of it, according to Mr. Melehov.
MedStar has been busiest in Leominster and Fitchburg, he said. Worcester’s storm damage was not as widespread.
Woods Ambulance Service in Gardner has seen injuries to workers involved in tree removals and to people falling off of ladders. There also have been health-related calls that may or may not have been caused by the storm.
Jim Woods, owner of Woods Ambulance Service, said his company was mainly concerned about hospital patients they needed to take from the hospital to their homes or shelters if they no longer needed hospitalization, or to other medical facilities if they needed a higher level of assistance.
He said his company also assisted elderly residents who were in elderly housing.
In the storm’s aftermath, all of the elderly housing in Gardner was voluntarily evacuated, although some residents chose not to leave.