Eighteen People Sent to Area Hospitals for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Overnight

Eighteen people were sent to area hospitals overnight Monday night for Carbon Monoxide poisoning in two separate incidents, Meriden Fire Chief James Trainor said Tuesday morning.

In the first, at a multi-family home on South Broad Street, residents were operating a generator in the basement. In addition to the adults taken to area hospitals, three children at the home were sent to Bridgeport Hospital for treatment in the hospital's special hyperbaric chamber, Trainor said.

Occupants were transported to hospitals from a second home on Twiss Street Tuesday morning, after a hibachi grill being run inside filled the home with carbon monoxide. 

According to Fire Chief James Trainor, one occupant woke at 4 a.m. to turn on the hibachi grill, "let it run for an hour, and he made a chicken."

Trainor warned residents that hibachi grills should not be used to warm a home, and an open flame should not be used inside.