Carbon monoxide leak forces Midtown Manhattan building to evacuate overnight: FDNY

Nov 15, 2021

New York, NY — An apartment building on Manhattan’s east side was evacuated overnight due to a carbon monoxide leak in the basement, authorities said.

The FDNY said the call came in around 12:45 a.m. for the incident at a residential building on East 55th Street, between First and Second avenues.

The entire seven-story building was evacuated, fire officials said.

The leak was due to a faulty vault that led to carbon monoxide levels of around 800 parts per million (PPM) in the building’s basement, the FDNY said. The maximum recommended CO level indoors is about 9 PPM.

Thankfully, no injuries were reported, according to the FDNY.

According to DetectCarbonMonoxide.com, at 800 PPM, people indoors could likely experience headaches and nausea after just 45 minutes of exposure, collapse and unconsciousness after one hour of exposure, and even potential death after two to three hours.

The FDNY assisted Con Edison at the scene and the incident was placed under control around 1:08 a.m., authorities said.