FEATURED IN NEWS
- President Obama Issues EMS Week Proclamation
- Up to 60 Injured after Car Drives into Va. Parade
- Images, Video: Commuter Trains Collide in Connecticut; 60 People Injured
- California EMT Burned in Race Kart Fire; Community Responds
- Woman in Towed Car Likely Died at North Carolina Crash Scene, Autopsy Finds
- Washington, D.C. Faces a Critical Paramedic Shortage
- School Bus Carrying Special-Needs Kids Rolls Over in Indianapolis
HYATTSVILLE, Md. - Forty eight hours after carbon monoxide poisoning killed three people in a Hyattsville neighborhood the family members of the victims spoke to us and firefighters hit the streets with a warning.
Mourners gathered at the house in Hyattsville Tuesday to remember the lives lost to a silent killer.
"I was banging on the door as hard as I could because no one would answer," remembered Diana Pasig.
Sunday, Pasig came to the home to check on 20-year-old Edward Gonzales, the father of her four-year-old son. To her horror, she spotted a running generator in the basement and encountered a locked door upstairs.
She said, then, "I broke down the door and found my son's father and his uncle on the floor."
Gonzales, his 17-year-old brother Henry and friend Elon Jones had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Pasig said about her son, "He's been asking me when is my daddy coming back from heaven. And I don't know what to say."
Only a few blocks from the house is a Prince George's County fire hall. Tuesday night, firefighters left Station One to prevent another tragedy. They canvassed the neighborhood where the Gonzales brothers lived, making sure that all are aware of the dangers of a highly toxic gas that is colorless and odorless.
While firefighters hope their efforts make a difference, grieving loved ones are left with a reality that is difficult to accept.
"It's so hard to think that the person I thought was going to be with me for the rest of my life is just gone," said Sonia Lopez, a girlfriend of one of the victims.
It's believed that the generator was being used because the power had recently been turned off to the home and the men planned on moving out the next day.
