1 dead, 1 transported at Koreatown building possibly due to carbon monoxide

KOREATOWN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- One person is dead and another was taken to a hospital after falling ill in Koreatown due to suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, possibly caused by a faulty boiler, officials said.

Firefighters responded to a four-story building in the 900 block of Hobart Boulevard Thursday evening.

They found one man dead at the scene and a woman was transported to a hospital in stable condition, officials said.

A neighbor who lived next door to the man who died said he noticed a strange smell.

"As I was walking out of my apartment building, it smelled like gasoline, sort of. It was a really unusual smell, " said resident Clyde Campbell.

Firefighters were called at about 6 p.m. and found a person who was experiencing flu-like symptoms, and during that time, fire crews started to smell an odor and "feel the symptoms of carbon monoxide," said Capt. Cody Weireter of the LAFD.

Crews cleared out all 48 units in the 90-year-old building.

"That's when the haz-material squad got on scene and started to use their specialized meters and started to see that the thresholds that would be normal were well elevated at what the person could withstand," Weireter said.

Authorities said they don't know what caused the elevated levels of carbon monoxide. Many resident said they had experienced headaches and nausea for days and said warning alarms had been going off.

Friends said another resident was found dead two days ago at the same building, but the cause of death is undetermined.

The building has since been red-tagged, meaning no one can occupy the building until the problem is fixed.

According to that tag, a boiler and a gas appliance are suspected to be the cause of the leak.

A total of 45 people were taken to a Red Cross facility Thursday, officials said.