Two adults and two young children have been taken to hospital to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after burning charcoal to try and stay warm in their powerless apartment.
Paramedics were called to an apartment in the Markham Road and Lawrence Avenue East area shortly after 6 a.m. where they found a man, a woman and two children aged two and three vomiting and feeling lethargic.
The man told police he had been burning charcoal to try and keep the family warm through the power outage.
The four were transported to a local hospital to be treated.
The incident comes as thousands of people try to stay warm in the midst of mass power outages caused by a weekend ice storm. About 70,000 Toronto Hydro customers were still without power early Wednesday morning, Toronto Hydro said.
Officials have been warning the public not to burn fossil fuels or use generators in enclosed areas because of the danger of possible carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Toronto Fire Services carbon monoxide related calls have spiked nearly seven times in three days compared to last year,” Toronto Fire Services said in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon.
Firefighters have responded to hundreds of carbon-monoxide related calls over the last few days, the release said.
That includes an incident Tuesday that left a 72-year-old woman and her 52-year-old son dead in Newcastle after they tried to heat up their home using a generator in an attached garage.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless gas that can be produced by burning fossil fuels such as wood, gas, oil or coal. In extreme cases, it can cause brain damage, suffocation or death. Symptoms include tiredness, headaches, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath and pink or redish skin.
As temperatures plummet, people are being urged to go to warming centres that have been set up around the city if they need to stay warm.
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