A Tulsa family narrowly avoided a carbon monoxide disaster from a routine furnace check. The family is now urging others to get their own units checked before winter.
The problem was multiple small holes in the top of the aging furnace. Brian Rice, owner of Brian's Heat and Air, says carbon monoxide will "take the path of least resistance", and will escape through even the smallest of holes.
Rice turned on the furnace and within minutes found a CO level of 60 parts per million; he says six is dangerous.
"Most of my family sleeps toward the front part of the house," the homeowner Chuck said. "That's where [the furnace] is located... and I didn't want to wake up to find my family deceased."
Tulsa Fire has already responded to 16 alarms in the past two weeks, and three people have been treated at those scenes.
