A Kelowna child is being hailed as a hero today, after potentially saving lives by calmly calling 911 and leading first responders to their home.
Just before 8 a.m., a 10-year-old called emergency crews to a home in the 1600-block of Highland Drive, said Eric Grootendorst, assistant chief with Kelowna Fire Department.
“There were either no alarms or the alarms weren’t working and the child made a 911 call when they realized there was something wrong,” Grootendorst said.
When the fire department got there, they found eight people suffering from various levels of carbon monoxide poisoning.
“There were four adults and four children and they were evacuated from the house and transported to Kelowna General Hospital,” Grootendorst said.
FortisBC was called in, the gas line was shut down and the home was ventilated.
Grootendorst said that the children were in a worse state than the adults, but from their perspective nobody was in critical condition.
A call to Interior Health has been made to learn more about the event that was heard throughout the hospital and then widely reported on social media as a "Code Orange," or a situation were there are potentially a high number of incoming patients.
Although the outcome is believed to have been positive, the situation is a good reminder for everyone to be careful.
Grootendorst said they're using the close call as a way to stress that it's not just a good idea to teach children to call 911, but also to check batteries and alarms.
