On New Year's Eve, over fifty individuals from a Utah Latter-day Saints chapel were admitted to the hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning, according to authorities.
On Sunday, the Monroe East church, 170 miles south of Salt Lake City, made two calls to the Sevier County Sheriff's Office. First, a four-year-old daughter had respiratory issues, and then an hour later, a father felt sick and assumed it was low blood sugar.
The sheriff's office stated the Monroe City Fire Department was called to check for carbon monoxide poisoning after another family reported headaches after church. When gas levels rose, crews evacuated everyone.
The incident was caused by a heating system malfunction, according to the church, which informed NBC News. The facility was shuttered until all safety issues were addressed.
On Sunday, Curtis witnessed the largest case of carbon monoxide poisoning he had ever seen. During the winter, when heating systems are always operating, he said, the events are more likely to occur, and he urged people to be checked early if they feel sick.
Carbon monoxide poisonings are uncommon in the US. In 2021, 28,900 people died worldwide from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Lancet Public Health, and an estimated 420 people die from the deadly gas in the United States each year, according to the CDC.
Efforts like Sunday's poisoning necessitate a full response in Monroe, a community of around 2,500 residents, according to Curtis. Authorities in other counties were summoned to assist in transporting individuals to medical facilities over a hundred miles apart, where the hyperbaric chambers—a therapy for poisoning—were accessible.
The final ambulance to return from taking patients to hospitals was at 10 a.m. on Monday, according to Curtis, who stated that the process began at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.