The incident occurred on Sunday, 17 September, at around 12:30 p.m. in one of the houses in Raciborowice Dolne. A person staying in a room containing a gas water heater suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. The victim was taken to hospital.
As we read on the Facebook profile of the volunteer firefighters from Raciborowice (Warta Bolesławiecka commune):
The carbon monoxide detector at our disposal indicated levels that were extremely dangerous to humans after the water heater was switched on.
Carbon monoxide is all the more dangerous because it has no taste, smell or colour, does not sting the eyes and does not “choke the throat”. The most common causes of poisoning are fires and faulty heating systems. A gas heater in a small bathroom without a flue (or with a blocked flue) can produce a lethal dose within one minute!
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can occur within just a few minutes. No other poison in the world claims so many victims!