An 80-year-old woman died and two others were hospitalized in life-threatening condition after carbon monoxide filled a home in Hampton's Farmington neighborhood, with police saying a car left running inside the attached garage for several hours is believed to be the cause. The woman had arrived at the home in the first block of Kenilworth Drive at around 9 p.m. the night before and parked her vehicle in the garage, where it ran unnoticed for hours overnight.
Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue crews responded the next day after dispatchers received a call for a medical emergency, and firefighters detected extremely high levels of carbon monoxide inside the home, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The 80-year-old woman was found dead, while two others — a man and a woman — were found unconscious inside and rushed to the hospital in life-threatening condition.
Detectives believe the vehicle was left running unintentionally and have said there are no signs of foul play, per the Virginian-Pilot's reporting. The initial response by Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue followed a call for an unknown medical issue in the 0 block of Kenilworth Drive at around 1:23 p.m. on September 21; two patients were transported to a local hospital.
How the Rescue Unfolded
Separate reporting from that day filled in more of the timeline. An additional caller reported smelling gas and said multiple people were unresponsive inside the residence, according to WAVY. Fire and rescue crews arrived around 1:32 p.m. and began searching the home, rescuing two people from the first floor before finding another person dead upstairs, the station reported.
A Recurring Danger With No Warning Signs
Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, which is part of why it can overwhelm a household before anyone realizes something is wrong. Federal guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency warns that a vehicle should never be left running inside a garage, because the gas can build up to deadly levels even with the garage door open, per the agency's carbon monoxide fact sheet.
The danger is not isolated to Hampton. In Moline, Illinois, a vehicle left running inside an attached garage sent three residents, a police officer and a firefighter to the hospital, according to KWQC, which reported that home's carbon monoxide detector had no batteries and was not working. In San Antonio, seven women were hospitalized after a vehicle was left running inside a house's garage, according to KSAT.
The scale of the risk nationally is significant. More than 400 Americans die annually from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning not linked to fires. The investigation into what happened at the Kenilworth Drive home remains ongoing.
