Atlanta

16 kids, 3 adults released from hospital after CO poisoning at day care

ATLANTA — More than a dozen children and several adults are back home after they were sent to a hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning Monday afternoon.

Atlanta Fire and Rescue spokesperson Cortez Stafford said they were called to the G.A.T.E.S day care at 2929 Hapeville Road around 3 p.m. for reports of children getting sick.

Fire officials said they found high levels of carbon monoxide in the air inside the day care.

A total of 16 children and three adults were taken to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes was at the scene Monday afternoon. Officials told her they believe the leak was from a gas furnace, which may have not been installed correctly.

“We got a report of a child having a seizure,” Stafford said. “Kids here were sick, they had symptoms that involved vomiting, nausea and headache. We identified the source to be carbon monoxide poisoning.”

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Stafford said this case of carbon monoxide was very scary for them.

"It's a pretty severe case. Anytime you get called to a day care or school, it's a pretty severe case," Stafford said.

Monday night, Channel 2's Christian Jennings spoke to the day care's owner, Cassidy Gates, who said she's an HVAC professional come out Tuesday to figure out what happened.

She confirmed that the building had carbon monoxide detectors inside. Cassidy said the system is new and has no clue why it didn’t sound an alarm.

Cassidy confirmed everyone taken to the hospital is OK, but the day care will be closed while she figures out the source of the problem.