A carbon monoxide leak from a recently installed gas boiler could have proven fatal for two contractors at the newly constructed unoccupied home at 29 Tolman St. on the morning of Jan. 27.
Two men employed by Framingham-based Euro Style Floor Solutions were in the home for only a few minutes before they were rendered unconscious by the effects of the gas, which had apparently been building up in the home for several hours.
A third colleague who had delayed entering the house to clear some snow called his boss, Wallace Jordao, to alert him to the situation. “My guy called me and my brother, so right away I called 911,” Jordao said.
Needham Fire Chief Thomas Conroy said the NFD responded shortly before 9:30 a.m. “When our crews rolled up and made entrance to the house, they found one gentleman unresponsive on the first floor and another gentleman unresponsive on the second floor,” said Conroy, who said the NFD immediately knew they were dealing with carbon monoxide.
“It was pretty obvious at that point, because when they entered the building the CO detectors were going off. At that juncture one of the fire officers called for extra help.”
“They got the first gentleman out. He was in stable but serious condition. He was transported to BID Needham,” said Conroy. “The other gentleman was in worse shape than the first guy. So they made the determination to send him to Beth Israel in Boston. He was intubated and was put on a ventilator.”
Jordao said both men have since returned home after multi-day hospital stays. “They’re both home. They are stable, they’re both well and they are recovering well.”
It doesn’t always work out that way. In February 2005, three women from Revere died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a hotel room while on vacation in Belize. The gas was apparently leaking from a hot water heater. And the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that more than 200 people die annually from unintentional non-fire related carbon monoxide poisoning associated with consumer products.
Jordao said the workers misinterpreted the alarm sounds as having been activated by a front-door security system. The developer of the property, Gregory Keshishyan of Edge Builders of Needham, said neighbors have told him they heard a loud noise in the middle of the night that triggered the alarms.
There was no one in the home when that occurred and “the CO levels were able to accumulate,” he said. “So those poor men walked into a land mine.”
“Thank God they are out of the hospital,” he added.
Carbon monoxide is odorless, so Jordao said the workers initially went about their work. “My guy said at first he just felt, like, a little lazy. And then he said, ‘I’m feeling sick,’ so he put some water on his face.”
“Pretty soon, they were all over the place, screaming because I think they thought they were going to die. Then they just kind of shut down.”
Keshishyan said the boiler had been removed and sent back to the manufacturer to be examined. A new boiler was installed the next day at the home, which received its Certificate of Occupancy Dec. 31.
Chief Conroy said carbon monoxide leaks are not outlier events. “They are quite frequent, especially in the wintertime,” he said. “We get it more in older houses, whether it be a misfire in the furnace or the system not being cleaned properly.”
“We recommend that you have a contractor clean it every year and we also recommend there should be a CO detector on each floor of the home. And people should check them like you do your smoke detectors — a couple times a year when you change the clocks and also test them on a monthly basis to make sure they’re working,” Conroy said.
Keshishyan purchased the house in December 2023. He was issued a building permit in March 2024 and constructed a new 4,905-square-foot home with seven bedrooms, and eight full bathrooms on the 12,000-square-foot lot. The property, which has an assessed value of $2.8 million, has been purchased.
Jordao said his crew was at the site to put a final buff on the hardwood floors. He said the interior had already been painted and the plan was to start with buffing the floors by hand around the stairs and the baseboards.
“We hold the final coat until the very end, we don’t want contractors walking on a finished floor.”
He said he will be eternally grateful for the snowstorm that required the third crew member to delay entry into the home.
“I thank God because, like, if the three guys were all inside, they wouldn’t have any time to make a call or something because I think that (exposure to carbon monoxide) just kinda shuts you down. You lose consciousness and just fall and that’s it.”
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