Family Says They Experienced Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Rental Cabin During Thanksgiving Trip: ‘It Was Scary'
“I just kept [saying] something is not right,” one of the family members said as more of their family members became ill
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Carbon monoxide alarmOne family booked a Thanksgiving getaway at a lodge — only to end up at the hospital.
Husband and wife Jade and Cassidee Smith told KUTV that their family had booked a stay at Six Lakes Lodge in Duchesne County, Utah last weekend to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, but then a series of strange events started happening.
Cassidee told the outlet that she and her sister began feeling weak, like they were going to pass out. Then one of their family members found their 11-month-old child lethargic and pale in the lodge and immediately transported the baby to the hospital.
“I just kept telling [Jade] something is not right,” Cassidee shared.
The same thing happened to another 12-year-old child in the family, which Cassidee was alerted to after taking a nap with her husband. She said her sister shook her awake and screamed that her niece was found unresponsive before fainting on the floor.
“I went to get up. My tunnel vision, I was blacked out,” Cassidee recalled after struggling to wake up. “I was just slapping [my husband] like you have to get up, I can’t move, I couldn’t stand.”
After the family noted that “three” family members were out and several others were not feeling well, they acted quickly, calling 911 and opening all the doors of the cabin. But more family members began feeling worse.
“We went from one unresponsive to four in about five minutes,” Jade said, noting that the family then tried getting 13 children out of the lodge.
The Altamont Fire Department said in a press release obtained by KUTV that deputies responded to the cabin at around 2:30 a.m. local time. Firefighters used a detector to determine that there were high amounts of carbon monoxide in the cabin.
"We found the hot zone in the basement in a utility room," Altamont Fire Chief Josh Phillips told KUTV. "The CO readings were strongest in that utility room."
The Altamont Fire Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on the incident.
Related: 3 New Mexico High Students Found Dead in Garage Likely Died of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Police
All 19 family members staying at the lodge were then transported to the Uintah Basin Medical Center for treatment, with six of the family members being transported via ambulance and the rest driving their own cars there.
The company that owns the Six Lakes Lodge said in a statement obtained by KUTV that "while the scene has been cleared, they're still investigating the cause and will be able to comment more once they know."
They added that none of their other properties were evacuated and are safe.
As for the Smiths, they noted that every single one of their family members’ blood tests at the hospital showed that they had carbon monoxide levels over 8.5, while their 12-year-old niece's levels were at a whopping 33.
According to the National Institute of Health, carbon monoxide poisoning is defined as having carboxyhemoglobin levels of over 10%, while severe poisoning is associated with levels over 20-25%.
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The couple also shared that each member of the family had to go in a hyperbaric chamber for two and a half hours while at the hospital, but they ended up okay.
“It was scary, but it was really lucky,” Jade told KUTV. “If one thing would have happened different, then this would be a story about 19 corpses being found in a cabin.”
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