Carbon monoxide poisoning increased almost everywhere in Quebec as power outages deprived thousands of Quebecers of electricity.
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Auxiliary heaters are the main culprits, authorities told TVA Nouvelles.
Only in the Capitale-Nationale, where between 1 or 2 calls are made every week for this type of poisoning, do we speak of ten calls to 911 in the last few days.
Several people had to be treated in a hyperbaric chamber.
Two people died, one in Mauricie and the other in the Quebec region.
“It was an avalanche of carbon monoxide poisoning,” explains Dr. Dominique Buteau, chief physician of the hyperbaric medicine service at the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis.
“I spoke to people today from Montreal’s Sacré-Coeur hospital, the other center for hyperbaric medicine, and they are going through the same situation. They told us it was almost comparable to the 1998 ice storm,” adds the doctor.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless and non-irritating gas. Difficult to recognize the symptoms, and even more so when people are asleep.
Several ways to warm up have been noted by firefighters.
“We’ve seen one case where people took charcoal and put it in a stainless steel bowl inside, but it’s made for outside,” says Alexandre Lajoie, spokesman for the Quebec City Fire Service, as an example.
Other people have installed a grill in their apartment.
“We had severe poisoning,” the spokesman complained.