Mother, 3 children sickened by carbon monoxide in Germantown

GERMANTOWN (WPVI) -- A carbon monoxide leak sent a mother and her three young children to the hospital in the city's Germantown section.

Fire officials tell Action News a carbon monoxide alarm awakened the family at 3:45 a.m. Saturday at their home in the 100 block of East Sharpnack Street.

Samirah Keitt was emotional as she spoke with us about the incident.

"I mean it's just sad because my kids were in there. What if my kids would have been dead? What I would have did, and what ya'll would have did? Nothing," said Keitt.

Philadelphia Gas Works crews found elevated levels of the dangerous gas in the home.

"I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I really did because I seen them in the ambulance and I panicked," said Robin Pester, grandmother.

Keitt and her children's grandmother, who had been spending time at the apartment, say they both had been feeling ill before the alarm sounded but didn't know why.

A family member took Keitt and her children, ages 2, 4 and 7 years old, to Einstein Medical Center for treatment.

"Me and hers were elevated, and the baby's they say his lips were pink so they gave him oxygen," said Pester.

PGW crews determined a faulty heater is to blame. Keitt, who had moved into the apartment earlier in the week, says she had complained to management about the heater for days.

Now Pester says she shutters to think of what could have happened had the home not been equipped with the life-saving detector.

"It's a silent killer. We could have not woke up at all, that's what could have happened," said Pester.