A 10-month-old was taken to the hospital with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning Wednesday night after the family's alarm indicated high levels of the gas.
Firefighters were called at 9:30 p.m. to an apartment in the 2900 block of Charles Court Northwest, where they found a woman and her two daughters.
The woman said her 10-month-old had been ill the past two days; an initial check of the child indicated elevated carboxyhemoglobin in her system, an indication of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The child was taken to Saint Marys Hospital; it's unclear if the other family members were treated, said Larry Mueller, assistant fire marshal. No other information about the child is available.
An oversize pot boiling on the gas stove is believed to have been the source of the gas, he said.
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"A large pot like that, that covers the entire burner and surrounding area doesn't allow proper ventilation," he said. "The natural gas doesn't burn as efficiently as it should, causing increases in carbon monoxide."
It's the leading cause of poison deaths in the U.S., Mueller said of the colorless, odorless gas. The Rochester Fire Department has responded to 128 carbon monoxide calls since Jan. 1, 2011.
