CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Several children were taken to the hospital Wednesday evening after officials in Cheektowaga evacuated Holiday Twin Rinks due to extremely high carbon monoxide levels.
Cheektowaga Police said around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, officers and the Forks Fire Department responded to the hockey rink due to a strange smell and reports of children with carbon monoxide exposure symptoms.
What was supposed a fun day of hockey turned into an alarming scene as children fell ill.
"There was some further updates from our dispatch office that there were several children that were projectile vomiting,” explained Jason Tolsma, director of emergency services & safety, Town of Cheektowaga.
The Forks Fire Department later confirmed they found extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in the building and immediately evacuated.
As the emergency services and safety for the Tolsma rushed to the scene.
“AMR evaluated several children on scene and transported two children and one adult yesterday from the Holiday Twin Rinks. During the evacuation most of the parents and children and coaches evacuated on their own and drove left the scene and drove to wherever and then we're understanding that they sought medical treatment on their own at various hospitals and throughout Western New York,” noted Tolsma.
Many parents jumped on social media to talk about the issue. 8-year-old Dominic was treated for CO poisoning. His mother told me she brought him to DeGraff Hospital for treatment. He was released Wednesday night and is doing well.
“It was kind of shocking. You don't expect that to happen in 2023,” remarked Jacci Britzzalaro, Hamburg resident.
Parent Britzzalaro was at the rink with her 8-year-old daughter Mora, who plays goalie, and started complaining of headaches.
“It hurt a lot — really bad,” recalled Mora Britzzalaro.
Mora and her mom watched as other players became ill.
“It’s scary when they're physically exhausted as it is. I mean, we could tell the players were slow and it was not normal. The second game was not normal at all,” replied Britzzalaro.
National Fuel investigated the source of the leak and said on Thursday it was determined that an improperly working furnace in the snack bar area caused high levels of carbon monoxide to build up over several days.
According to National Fuel, it was not a gas leak as first reported, but a carbon monoxide build-up. The facility owner will need to make the appropriate repairs.
“In order to get carbon monoxide, you must have incomplete combustion, so, which is caused by a device that's using national natural gas, so, what happens is that device so in this particular case, a heater was malfunctioning, which is then producing carbon monoxide throughout the building,” Tolsma described.
The following statement was provided by a spokesperson for Holiday Twin Rinks:
"Last evening Holiday Twin Rinks was required to evacuate the building due to a faulty heat exchanger in our Lobby heater, causing unsafe levels of CO. This heating item was disconnected and is being fully replaced today. In addition National Fuel has been working with our staff throughout the entire night, checking ALL existing gas lines (dehumidifier, heaters, Zamboni, water tanks, etc) to make sure our building is 100% safe to operate again. We are obviously disappointed that our CO detector failed us during this terrible event. Today we have a company coming in to install ALL NEW detectors to ensure this does not happen again. We are very sorry that our customers in the building had to experience this event and we hope that all of our hockey families are feeling better!"
7 News' Michael Schwartz spoke with the owner of Holiday Twin Rinks who said there are multiple carbon monoxide detectors throughout the building, but the one in the front of the building failed. He said that's where the high levels of CO were detected. The owner said four new detectors were installed on Thursday, and there will now be routine checks to test them.
The owner and Cheektowaga Code Enforcement Officer were not sure of the exact date when the CO detectors were last tested, but the code enforcement officer said there were no violations found at the rink.
Cheektowaga's Code Enforcement Officer said CO detectors should be tested every three years, and battery life has an expectancy of ten years. He said it's required for commercial spaces to have CO detectors on every floor that has a fuel-fired device, with some exceptions based on the type of building.
According to the CDC carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 400 people in the U.S. every year.
A message on the rink's website Thursday afternoon said the rink was cleared by National Fuel and would reopen at 3 p.m. But an additional message a short time later said it would remain closed Thursday "In an effort to double-make sure there are NO remaining issues @ Holiday." In a third message, it was announced it would be closed through Monday, January 1, 2024.
“It’s scary. I know we didn't hear any kind of alarm at all,” Britzzalaro said. “Really hoping that they can figure it out and get it safe for the kids go back because that's just it's really scary.”
