THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 8, 1995 TAG: 9508080238
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
More than 40 people were taken to hospitals Monday after deadly fumes from a faulty furnace spread through an Oceanfront-area hotel.
None suffered life-threatening injuries and all were listed in good condition by late Monday afternoon, hospital officials said.
The injured, including at least a dozen children, were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after dangerous amounts of the odorless, colorless gas poured from a water-heating furnace and rose to the upper floors of Murphy's Emerald Isle Motel at the intersection of 11th Street and Pacific Avenue.
The cool weather may have spared some of the guests.
Several patrons said night temperatures in the 70s let them sleep with windows open. Monday's relative chill broke a 26-day heat wave that kept windows shut and air conditioners running on high.
Good ventilation dilutes carbon monoxide levels.
Thirty-five people were taken to the Trauma Center at Virginia Beach General Hospital; nine were treated at Sentara Bayside Hospital, officials said.
``I woke up this morning about 8 o'clock and I was vomiting, and I had a headache,'' said Larry Corbett, a 25-year-old hotel manager from Alexandria.
Corbett and about a dozen family members staying in two rooms believed the pizza they had eaten the night before made them ill.
``I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't,'' he said. ``The children were crying and screaming. I was worried about everybody, especially the children.''
Corbett called for medical help. Several ambulances took Corbett and his relatives to Virginia Beach General. Rescue workers said one of the injured, an infant, was semiconscious when they arrived.
Firefighters and rescue workers began doubting food poisoning was to blame because Corbett's family members had eaten at different restaurants. Then, other motel residents began complaining of similar symptoms.
A quick test of Corbett's blood showed high carbon-monoxide levels. At the hotel, firefighters using a microphone-sized gas detector found high concentrations of carbon monoxide.
Dr. Stewart Martin of Virginia Beach General said carbon monoxide is known as ``the great imitator'' because its symptoms are similar to those of several other illnesses, including food poisoning.
Corbett suffered the most serious effects from the gas, Martin said. He said Corbett would be taken to a Navy ship and placed in a pressurized chamber to help purge the carbon monoxide from his blood.
The carbon monoxide - a normal byproduct of incomplete combustion - should have been vented harmlessly outside the hotel. Somehow that didn't happen, said Fire Department spokesman Mike Wade.
The gas inhibits oxygen absorption in the body by preventing red blood cells from bonding with oxygen molecules. Exposure to significant amounts of carbon monoxide can be deadly.
While the cool weather may have spared some, the weather put Corbett and his family members in the motel.
Heavy rains Sunday chased the family from a campground to the resort strip in search of a hotel room for their last day of vacation. Corbett, an assistant manager of a Best Western hotel in Northern Virginia, found that chain's hotel full, so he booked a room at Murphy's Emerald Isle Motel.
``It started with the rain, and it ended like this,'' he said, tugging at the oxygen mask covering his mouth.
``Otherwise, we had a great time,'' Corbett said. ``I can't believe it only rained once.''
Corbett's wife, Ann, waited at the hospital with her four children while her husband was taken to Norfolk for treatment.
``We're feeling much better,'' she said. ``We're just glad to be alive.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MARTIN GRUBE\ Tidewater Fire Photographers
Association
Tony Wilson, a Kempsville Rescue Squad worker, carries 11-year-old
John Baldacci of Alexandria out of Murphy's Emerald Isle Motel on
Monday morning. All of the injured were listed in good condition by
Monday night. Cool weather may have helped the victims, who had left
windows open.
Color staff photo by MORT FRYMAN/
Murphy's Emerald Isle Motel is at 11th Street and Pacific Avenue.
Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Patrons of Murphy's Emerald Isle Motel wait outside as Virginia
Beach firefighters investigate a carbon monoxide leak. The odorless
gas apparently escaped from a water-heating furnace.
KEYWORDS: CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING VIRGINIA BEACH MOTEL by CNB