Thanksgiving Tamale Tradition Nearly Turns To Tragedy In Propane Incident
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KENDALL (CBSMiami) – A Thanksgiving tradition nearly turned to tragedy Thursday morning when six people were treated for carbon monoxide exposure in Kendall. Four of them were hospitalized.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials, a family living in an apartment at 15221 SW 80th Street was cooking with propane inside their apartment, which created dangerous levels of carbon monoxide inside the unit.
"They were cooking tamales. Thankfully everybody is going to be alright," said a woman.
Tamales, apparently on their Thanksgiving menu. According to sources, the family involved in this holiday scare was using a large propane tank. They had cooked Wednesday night but by this morning, with many of them not feeling well, they called Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, which responded with full force including a hazmat truck.
"When the units arrived, they noticed that multiple people in the apartment were not feeling well and they noticed they had a big fryer hooked up to an LP tank inside the apartment," said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Kevin Martin.
Carbon monoxide exposure can produce headaches, dizziness, vomiting, confusion, potential loss of consciousness, brain damage and eventually death. Carbon monoxide poisoning is especially dangerous for victims who are sleeping.
"We had a very high reading inside the apartment. That is what caused the exposure," according to Chief Martin.
The hazmat unit brought in fans to pump in fresh air and disperse the carbon monoxide. The upper floors of the apartment building were evacuated.
A total of four people were taken to a local hospital and two were treated on the scene. Everyone will recover from the Thanksgiving Day scare.
