CSU Students Among CO Poisoning Victims

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4)- Four people were taken to the hospital Tuesday after they were poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes. Three of the four victims are students at Colorado State University living off campus.

The condominium complex is located off Stuart and Overland Trail in Fort Collins. The CO fumes built up so much inside one condo, they actually set off a neighbor's CO detector.

"I got out of bed and I was immediately feeling light-headed. Within probably 3 minutes of getting out of bed was the first time I passed out," said CO poisoning victim Joan Pluess. "I fell on the floor of the bathroom."

The Poudre Valley Fire Department said her condominium was measuring ten times the minimum federal standard.

It wasn't her carbon monoxide detector that sounded the alarm, it was her neighbor's. The CO was seeping through the walls and spilling into the condo through a furnace pipe that came loose in her basement, according to the Fort Collins Building Inspector.

Joan, her 2 roommates and a different neighbor were all sickened by carbon monoxide.

Joan spent 3 hours in a hyperbaric chamber to help bring her oxygen level back to normal. All are expected to fully recover.