Carbon monoxide leak sent over a dozen office workers to hospital in Saint John

More than a dozen office workers who were sent to the hospital from carbon monoxide exposure last week have since all been released from care. Some employees of seafood company Cook Aquaculture started feeling sick around 4 o'clock at their building on Carlton Street. They evacuated the building and called 911. 22 of them needed some type of medical attention, either on scene or at the hospital. When the fire department arrived, they tested high levels of carbon monoxide throughout the building's three floors, due to a leaking pipe from their heating unit. It was a failure in the, I guess, or a malfunction in the exhaust of the heating unit. It was not venting properly outside and the fumes were inside. The solution was getting everybody out into fresh air, and then as a precaution, have folks go to the ER to just get assessed and to make sure that everything was. Horizon Health Network confirmed a code orange was enacted at St. John Regional Hospital Friday evening. A code orange means they expected an influx of critically ill or seriously injured patients in a short amount of time, and it was declared over after 8.30. Cook Aquaculture Vice President of Public Relations Joel Richardson said that everyone had been released from the hospital by the following day. It's very unfortunate. I mean, you never want these things to happen, but when they do, you certainly have to take them seriously and be very prepared. We feel we were very prepared for it and, you know, in an emergency situation you need to move out of the building quickly and that's what we did. Chief Nicol is unsure whether the Cook building had a carbon monoxide detector, but he is sure on how important they are. Having carbon monoxide detectors in your buildings are very smart and a peace of mind so that you'll know if you are being exposed to elevated levels of carbon monoxide. And it's really, it's important if there's any appliance that does burn any type of fuel. But you have that peace of mind of having a detector there, understanding if something doesn't seem right or you're not feeling well, to report that, call 9-1-1 and get yourself out of the situation if it's safe to do so. The Cook Aquaculture Office has since returned to normal carbon monoxide levels and it has been cleared for people to return to work.