According to officials of Villa Park, a wrongly installed furnace led to a carbon monoxide leak at a single-family home in Villa Park due to which 11 people got hospitalized on Sunday. On Monday, Villa Park Fire Chief Ronald Rakosnik said high levels of carbon monoxide leaked from a furnace in the home basement in the 200 block of West Division Street.

He mentioned that the level of carbon monoxide in the furnace room was 1,000 parts per million, which is considered as a lethal level. At the entrance of the home, the level of carbon monoxide was 300 parts per million, which could lead to dizziness, nausea and headaches.

Villa Park paramedics received a call just before 9 am from a teenager suffering from a headache at the residence. They responded the call and arrived at the site. On arriving, paramedics discovered 4 additional individuals with same symptoms outside the home.

The left individuals also left the house soon. There were 11 people, ranging in age from 6 to 61, inside the home, and all of them were taken to hospitals, and were released later on. Nicor Gas arrived at the site to shut off the gas.

As per Rakosnik, the residents are not allowed to return to the home until the inspection and repairing of the furnace is done by a reputable company.

Rakosnik said, “At this point, it looks like the furnace was not properly installed. The vent pipes were going out of the side of the house. They should be going straight up through the roof”.