Editor’s note: According to a report by WYFF4.com, dispatcher Ondrea Baker answered the 9-1-1 call. “It was her last call of the day.” The family initially refused emergency response, saying they would get to the hospital themselves, but the call “made Baker so uncomfortable that she decided to send help … whether the family wanted it or not.”

The Associated Press
Original publication date: Nov. 15

Flat Rock, N.C. — Authorities say a father and his four children had to go to the hospital after breathing in carbon monoxide from a generator running all night in the basement of their Flat Rock apartment.

Blue Ridge Fire Department Chief Gary Brown told multiple media outlets that someone in the Henderson County home called 9-1-1 around 5 a.m. Monday and said they were losing consciousness and vomiting.

Police went to check on the caller and found the man and his four children, ranging in age from 7 to 18.

Brown says the family lost power on Sunday and had been running the generator since.

Authorities say the carbon monoxide levels in the home were as high as their instruments can measure.

The names of the victims were not released.

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