HENRICO, Va. (WTVR) - A mother and her son were transported to the hospital after being exposed to carbon monoxide Sunday morning.
Crews responded to a report of a fall in the 3600 block of Croydon Road around 10:15 a.m.
Henrico fire's Captain Mellon said that when crews arrived they found a 34-year-old woman lying down in a bath tub because she reported feeling dizzy and weak.
Fire officials said the five people inside the home all suffered from headaches and weakness.
Crews discovered carbon monoxide levels inside the home to be 190 parts per million, which Mellon said was very high. In fact, the Henrico County Division of Fire uses 10 parts per million as their action level.
Thirty-four-year-old Rasheda Basterfield and her 11-year-old son, Mantino Mines, were rushed to VCU Medical Center with carbon monoxide poisoning. The three others refused medical treatment.
Basterfield told CBS 6 News' Jake Burns that she got out of bed feeling nauseous. When she went to get into the shower, she said she felt like the room started spinning.
"I couldn't describe what I was feeling, but I couldn't shake what I was feeling," Basterfield said. "They told me at the hospital that normally carbon monoxide is a silent killer. You go to sleep and you never wake up."
Mantino, who said he got scared when he saw his mother's eyes spinning around, is coming to grips with the close call.
"I'm just glad to have her back -- and that she didn't die," a tearful Mantino said.
Mellon said. the cause of the carbon monoxide leak was a damaged furnace flue. Fire crews shut off the furnace, ventilated the house and the family was allowed back inside.
However, the family will be without heat until their furnace is fixed.
Henrico fire officials remind the community that if you have a fuel-burning appliance in your home, you need a carbon monoxide detector. CO is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced during the burning process.
