By: Jerry Burke
"If the officers hadn't arrived when they did, it's possible the whole family wouldn't have made it," said Detective Sgt. Frank Galgano. "They're very lucky."
Police say the homeowner, Nellie Torres-Ponce, 33, had heard her 8-year-old son crying at around 4 a.m. on Jan. 12 and found her son, husband and 5-year-old daughter unconscious in their bedrooms. Four other family members were asleep in the basement, two of them also unconscious.
Upon arriving, Douglas and Ressa entered the home through the open door at 4:15 a.m., only minutes after the 911 operator received a call from Ponce complaining of breathing problems. They found the owner of the home passed out in the hallway. Ponce, who was pregnant, was immediately evacuated. Police then evacuated three more family members and called for aid from the Malverne Police Department.
Malverne Sgt. John Aresta, who was on patrol, responded and found the 5-year-old girl unconscious and not breathing, lying on the floor of the living room. The officer revived the child and administered oxygen, and then rushed her to Mercy Medical Center in his police vehicle, where she was hospitalized and further treated for exposure to carbon monoxide.
In all, eight residents and the family's poodle were rescued from the home by police. Six of the residents and four police officers were treated for exposure to carbon monoxide. The four rescuers were treated and released from Mercy. Ponce and her family were later transferred to the Jacobi Medical Center in Manhattan for treatment in the center's hyperbaric chamber.
According to Nassau County fire marshals and KeySpan supervisors, a faulty gas burner and poor ventilation contributed to the incident. It is not considered suspicious.
The following day in the Bronx, a 10-year old girl and a 37-year-old man died after a furnace began leaking carbon monoxide into their home.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, carbon monoxide poisoning accounts for 2,000 American deaths and numerous illnesses each year. Officials urge the use of home carbon monoxide detectors in addition to smoke detectors. Carbon monoxide is odorless, and can only be detected by such a device.
