A woman was left fighting for her life with carbon monoxide poisoning after a disconnected boiler leaked the poisonous gas into her illegally converted Queens apartment on Christmas Eve morning, officials said.
The woman was found around 10:25 a.m. with three other people on 194th Street near 114 Road in St. Albans, according to fire officials and the Department of Buildings.
A firefighter’s carbon monoxide detector wailed as they walked through the home searching for the woman, ABC 7 reported.
“They had a meter to test each floor for carbon monoxide and each floor showed carbon monoxide,” resident Ryan Mohan told the station.
“She collapsed and her daughter collapsed,” he said about the victim.
The woman was rushed to Nassau County Medical Center in critical condition.
Three others were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
Officials did not provide ages for the victims.
Inspectors with the Department of Buildings were later called to the scene and discovered a disconnected boiler “preventing the carbon monoxide from properly venting outside of the house,” a DOB spokesperson said.
Two boilers and a pair of hot water heaters in the building were ordered shut down.
The two-family home was currently used as a seven-family one, with apartments being rented out in the cellar and attic without proper work permits, according to the DOB.
Residents are now forced to stay elsewhere after a partial vacate order was placed on the home.
The Red Cross was helping the displaced tenants find another place to stay on Tuesday.
“I feel sorry for the tenants because now it’s a holiday,” a neighbor told ABC 7.
“Now they have to find homes to be. It’s a mess.”
