Family Thanksgiving trip derailed by carbon monoxide leak in Utah rental home

A Thanksgiving trip to a rental cabin in the woods turned into a horror scene when 19 family members were struck down with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Jade Smith and his family had booked a trip to the Six Lakes Lodge in Duchesne County, Utah, for the holidays.

During the vacation, he said they all fell ill one by one as the “silent killer” leaked into the air.

Seven of the family members even became unresponsive.

Fortunately, they evacuated the property before the exposure proved fatal.

“It was scary, but it was really lucky,” Mr Smith told KUTV.

“If one thing would have happened different, then this would be a story about 19 corpses being found in a cabin.”

Mr Smith’s partner Cassidee Smith told the outlet that the first signs of trouble came when she and her sister Jacqueline felt as if they were going to faint on Friday.

“I just kept telling [Jade] something is not right,” she said.

Not long later, one of the family members found the couple’s 11-month-old baby lethargic and pale.

The infant was immediately rushed to hospital.

A few hours later, she said that she and her husband had briefly laid down to rest when they were woken up by her sister frantically shouting that her 12-year-old niece was unresponsive.

Ms Smith tried to get up to respond to the distress, but as she rose up, she said she also blacked out, the outlet reported.

Moments later, Jacqueline fainted and hit her head on the floor.

“At that moment, I was like, ‘Okay, that is three people; my wife is upstairs; she can’t move; there’s something in the air,’” Mr Smith said.

“We went from one unresponsive to four in about five minutes,” he added.

The family had booked a Thanksgiving getaway in a cabin, not knowing what was about to unfold

(KUTV)

Up until this point, the family had no idea that carbon monoxide was filling the air in the house, putting everyone in serious danger.

Carbon monoxide, an odourless and colourless gas, kills around 400 Americans each year and hospitalises more than 14,000 people, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

It can be emitted from various objects, such as vehicles, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges or furnaces.

Everyone is at risk of being poisoned, but elderly people, infants and those with underlying health conditions like heart and breathing problems are more at risk of getting seriously ill.

The family called 911 and opened all the doors after recognising that something was wrong.

They then immediately tried to get all 13 children in their family group away from the cabin.

When the Altamont Fire Department arrived at around 2.30am on Saturday morning, they found that the carbon monoxide alarm in the home did have batteries in – but it was not working.

All 19 family members had a blood test, which showed carbon monoxide levels of over 8.5; the couple’s 12-year-old niece had a reading of 33.

The whole family was treated with hyperbaric chambers for two and a half hours, enabling them to breathe pure oxygen in a pressurised environment to reduce the risk of brain injury or nerve damage, the outlet reported.

By Saturday night, all 19 family members were back home ssafe, but the traumatic experience was still taking an emotional toll on the group.

“It could have turned out so much worse,” Ms Smith said to KUTV, as she urged others to check their carbon monoxide detectors.

“But these are images, seeing their little bodies drop; we will live with that forever.”

Dave Nelson, a staff member at Six Lakes, told KUTV that they are continuing to investigate what caused the incident. None of the other properties were impacted, he said.

The Independent has contacted Six Lakes for comment.