By Dirk Boettger
In Reinickendorf, the fire brigade was called to residents with clouded consciousness on Tuesday morning. The reason: poison gas!
Upon entering the house on Sandhauser Strasse in the Konradhöhe district, the emergency services’ carbon monoxide warning system went off immediately. The forces alerted other forces and the fault clearance service of the Berlin/Brandenburg network company.
15 residents were temporarily brought to safety, three of whom had to be treated on site by paramedics and an ambulance.
In an apartment building in Reinickendorf, rescue workers, fault clearance service and police had to move in on Tuesday Photo: Spreepicture
According to initial findings, a gas heater in an apartment is said to have been defective and not burned the gas properly, resulting in carbon monoxide. The fire brigade experts were able to measure a low concentration of carbon monoxide in an apartment.
Carbon monoxide is an extremely toxic colorless, odorless and tasteless gas. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can include nausea, headache, tachycardia, drowsiness, hallucinations, apathy, seizures and shortness of breath. If the poisoning occurs during sleep, the affected person becomes unconscious, breathing stops and death occurs.
Fortunately, the symptoms and the cause were recognized in good time in the Reinickendorf residential building. According to initial findings, no serious injuries were caused by the gas. The fire brigade ventilated the house.
It was not yet possible to say whether the three people who had to be treated on site also came to a hospital. The network company is still checking the systems on Tuesday morning.