CO Poisining

We had chores to do for the day and it was cleaning the tile floors. We started with a floor buffer and that was working o.k. but not to Walsh's liking, so he brought his power washer in from his truck. Although the ride on the buffer was fun it didn't get nearly as clean as the power washer.

Now here is the funny thing. The Fire Dept responds on CO (carbon monoxide)alarms all of the time so you would think that we know better then to run a gas engine in the station. Walsh started in the bathroom while the rest of the crew ran the buffer in the kitchen and hallway. We thought after ten minutes we should check on Walsh. We went into the bathroom with our CO monitor and couldn't believe he wasn't dead. The CO levels were at 230 parts per million. We make people evacuate their homes at 35. Walsh is a lunger, he has been a firefighter for 34 years so smoke is like fresh air to him. He wanted to keep going so we locked him in the bathroom with his SCBA and he went to town. I must say the floors were spotless. It was one of the funniest thing that have happened for a while at the fire house. We did get a lot of flack from our other stations.