NEWRY – Seven Sunday River workers were briefly hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning Saturday after inhaling some bad air in a summit shack, the ski resort’s spokesman said.
Alex Kaufman of Sunday River said Monday that a group of ski patrollers and snow makers were resting in a cabin on the summit of Spruce Mountain at 1 p.m. Saturday when they began smelling something unusual and not feeling well.
They left the cabin quickly. Two employees said they had headaches, Kaufman said.
The group was alert, but nonetheless taken to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway to receive oxygen as a precautionary measure, Kaufman said.
Tracey Geary of Stephens Memorial Hospital said all seven have been treated and released.
Spruce Mountain is closed to the public now, but the group was preparing the trails for its opening soon. They paused for a break in a shack heated by a small space heater that runs on propane and is built into the shack.
“The heating unit wasn’t functioning properly,” Kaufman said. “The exhaust wasn’t getting out properly.”
He said Sunday River will check the heating apparatus, as well as several others in different shacks around the ski area.
At high levels, carbon monoxide poisoning can kill in minutes. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, it is produced when any fuel, such as gasoline, charcoal, wood, oil and kerosene, is burned. People with carbon monoxide poisoning are treated with high doses of oxygen.
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