Bristol Herald Courier
BRISTOL , Va. — Buster the boxer was credited with helping to save his family’s lives from carbon monoxide poisoning early Friday after the dog began licking their faces to wake them.
City Fire Department Sgt. Scotty Sproles said the family, which just moved into a New Hampshire Avenue home, borrowed a generator from relatives during a power outage.
The generator was placed in the crawl space of the house and left running for the better part of a day, Sproles said. Exhaust fumes from the generator accumulated and eventually rose to the living area of the home.
By chance, a Bristol Life Saving Crew ambulance was nearby when a 911 dispatcher received a call from the home shortly before 2 a.m. The ambulance had been sent to assist the Fire Department with a non-related medical call in the neighborhood. Another ambulance was sent to the initial call.
Bristol Life Saving Crew paramedic Tommy Sparks said his team arrived seconds after a woman there passed out from carbon monoxide fumes. Her son made the 911 call.
“We would have had a completely different situation had the dog not been involved getting them to wake up,” Sparks said. “We most likely would have had four fatalities.”
Sproles said when first-responders walked toward the porch with a gas-detection device, it began to sound an alarm.
Three adults and one child were taken out of the residence. Three were taken to the hospital and treated with oxygen. They were feeling better by the time they arrived at the emergency room, Sparks said.
Two teenagers in the family who were at a friend’s house down the street were treated for carbon monoxide exposure as a precaution.
Once the house was empty, Sproles said, an electric fan was set up to ventilate the home.
Sparks said with summer thunderstorms knocking out power, it is more likely for people to use generators, which can lead to carbon monoxide exposure.
“Carbon monoxide is a silent killer,” Sparks warned. “It’s never OK at any time to put something like that in your house or in your garage and let it run,” Sproles added. “Never run an engine inside of the house.”
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