Neighbor recounts dramatic rescue of family sickened by carbon monoxide

MOUNT OLIVE -- A Flanders man and his girlfriend out for an evening walk helped lead to the rescue of a family sickened in a carbon monoxide incident Monday night that sent 11 people, including three police officers, to the hospital.

Afam Nwandu, 31, said he and Melanie Milo planned to go for a walk at 7 p.m., but were running behind and didn't end up leaving until 20 minutes later. 

Nwandu said he and his girlfriend heard alarms when they began their walk and saw a police car and an ambulance speed down Fenimore Court. Nwandu said he believed first responders initially went to the wrong home. 

A short time later, Nwandu saw his neighbor, Paul Gennaro, yelling for help in front of his Fenimore Court home. Gennaro was with his two young children -- a boy and a girl -- both of whom laid out in front of the home, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. 

Gennaro told the couple his wife and two stepsons were still inside, but he wasn't able to pull them out. 

Nwandu and Milo quickly ran into the home and found Gennaro's wife, Tabitha, at the top of the stairs, also convulsing and foaming at the mouth. After bringing her outside, they went back into the home to search for the two older stepsons.

"I've never seen anything like it," Nwandu said. "Just walking into a home and seeing everyone laid out."

Nwandu said as he searched he took short breaths and opened up windows to ventilate the home. Nwandu said he knows carbon monoxide is odorless, but he smelled gas during his search and became lightheaded. 

Once Nwandu and Milo reached the basement, they found one of the older stepsons unconscious in the downstairs bathroom, appearing as though he'd been about to get into the shower, and a second stepson in the basement. The two stepsons were too heavy to move by themselves, but within minutes police officers arrived. 

Nwandu said he and two officers were able to pull the stepsons out of the basement and lay them out on the ground outside. Nwandu said he didn't hear any carbon monoxide or fire alarms while he was inside the home.

Gennaro hugged both Milo and himself after the incident, Nwandu said.

Mount Olive Mayor Robert Greenbaum said eleven people, including three police officers, were sickened by carbon monoxide during the incident.

The three police officers along with Nwandu and Milo went to Saint Clare's in Dover for evaluation after the incident. All were released from the hospital later that night.

Greenbaum said Gennaro, his wife and two younger children were taken to Morristown Medical Center, but the girl was then flown to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. for hyperbaric treatment, he said. The two older stepsons were also flown to the Bronx for treatment.

Nwandu said firefighters didn't end up going into the house until two or three hours after their arrival due to the high levels of carbon monoxide. 

About 1,600 parts per million of carbon monoxide was measured inside the home, WABC-7 reported. A normal reading is zero.

Nwandu said he didn't know where the carbon monoxide originated, but he said the home recently had an extensive amount of work done in the backyard. 

Greenbaum said the Morris County Prosecutor's Office's investigation was currently focused on the hot water heater in the home.

According to Nwandu, a neighbor reportedly called Paul Gennaro to tell him his dogs had been barking since the morning. Usually, he said, they only bark when someone is around outside. 

Gennaro tried calling his whole family but no one picked up the phone, Nwandu said.

The dogs were being cared for at a neighbor's house Tuesday, he said. 

Greenbaum said Nwandu and Milo were heroes. 

"They're heroes," Greenbaum said. "Plain and simple. They put their own lives at risk to save others."

Greenbaum urged residents to check to make sure their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were in working order.

"An incident like this really demonstrates the need to make sure your fire detectors and CO detectors are working properly," he said. "It is a silent killer. I would urge everyone to make sure their detectors are working properly." 

Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.