Township demands fix-ups
after 3 are sickened by CO
By brian donahue
Staff Writer
EAST BRUNSWICK — Three tenants of a Riva Avenue farm cottage were poisoned by carbon monoxide after heating their home with a charcoal grill during the night of Nov. 6.
The residents called the police around midnight because they were feeling ill. Responding rescue squad members took the three people to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, where they were treated and released.
Police said Amarillas Ortiz, 32, George Guillen, 39, and Mario Guillen, 41, all residents of 260C Riva Ave., had been burning charcoal in a barbecue grill they had placed in a confined area. In an effort to keep warm in the cottage, where the electric heating system was inoperable because the power to the home had been shut off, the group had been burning charcoal for three hours, police said.
"They felt very ill, and they were cognizant enough to call us," said East Brunswick Police Sgt. Russell MacArthur. "They were all conscious when the police got there."
The home had carbon monoxide readings of between 165 and 170 parts per million (ppm), police said, a level high enough to cause death if a person is exposed long enough. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, exposure of beyond 70 ppm of carbon monoxide is enough to make a person feel ill with symptoms such as headache, nausea, weakness and confusion. Levels of more than 150 ppm could result in unconsciousness and death, the commission’s Web site indicates.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced by burning carbon-based fuel such as natural gas, heating oil, wood, gasoline and charcoal.
It has killed five people in Middlesex County this fall, according to published reports. Four members of a Woodbridge family died due to carbon monoxide given off by a leaky furnace, and a Cartaret woman was killed as the result of the gas given off by her kerosene heater.
Officials recommend that people install carbon monoxide detectors in their homes as a safety precaution.
On Friday, East Brunswick construction code officials inspected the Riva Avenue property, which is located on a former chicken farm. The cottage is one of several residences on the site, and is set back far enough that it cannot be seen from the road.
Construction Official Joseph Messina said his office found problems with the electrical wiring on the property and was issuing an imminent hazard notice to its owner on Friday. The notice means that if the problems are not immediately fixed and if electricity is not returned, the tenants would be evicted.
Messina said officials had learned the property’s ownership had recently changed, and that its new owner was M.M. Patel of Franklin Township.
"There are a lot of wiring problems, which the new owner might not have been aware of," Messina said Friday. "We’re trying to get a hold of him now."
He said officials did not know why the electricity had been shut off, but they believed that another resident on the property had been responsible for having it shut off.

