Fire Dept called to Southfield apartment complex 4 times for carbon monoxide

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - It was just a few weeks ago FOX 2 reported about two Mormon missionaries who saved the lives of everyone in their apartment complex after their carbon monoxide detector went off.

The building manager said every hot water heater would be inspected to make sure this never happened again. But there continues to be issues that send people to the hospital.

This scare marks the fourth carbon monoxide leak at the complex and the tenants here are losing their trust.

Cassandra Floyd lives in the Cambridge Square apartment complex. She's expecting to give birth to a daughter in the next few days.

"To have a son here and a child I'm expecting any day now," she said. "I'm here myself during the day, so it's very alarming."

She says she was first alerted about the leaks by a report on FOX 2, but to this day, she said she has not been notified by apartment managers.

"We haven't received anything," Floyd said. "No notice. The only thing we heard about was the interview on the news a couple of weeks ago."

The four leaks happened in three different buildings of the complex. Two weeks ago, two missionaries living here rescued dozens from poisoning because their room was the only one with a carbon monoxide detector.

"We realized, you know, with carbon monoxide, it's a deadly killer," said Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee. "It's really silent."

Menifee says in the four incidents, levels have reached deadly amounts at 100 to 200 parts per million. At least 20 reported getting sick. Four people were taken by ambulance to the hospital.

The most recent case was an infant who was checks out and is okay.

"We're triple checking everything, so as of now I'm very confident as of now that there are no levels in these buildings."

New apartment managers took over August 1 after the first two leaks and before the two most recent.

A statement from Michael Schocker, president of the Fourmidable Real Estate MGNT said: 

"We have also ordered carbon monoxide detectors for every unit in the Cambridge Square community and we will have them installed in the next couple of days. The safety and health of our residence is our only concern at this point and we plan on taking whatever steps needed to resolve the problem immediately."

Cassandra used to think her smoke detector was also a carbon monoxide detector.

She's picking up her own; she said she is not waiting for her apartment managers.

"We'll probably get the actual carbon monoxide kit from CVS or something and install it in our homes just to be prepared," she said.

The fire chief says neither the older or new managers will be ticketed for this, instead, they are trying to work together to make sure the problem is solved.