20 people exposed to carbon monoxide at Fairview company

FAIRVIEW, Ore. – Twenty people were sent to area hospitals to be checked out after being exposed to higher-than-normal concentrations of carbon monoxide at a Fairview food company on Tuesday morning.

The Gresham fire chief said somebody had been using a gasoline-powered pressure washer overnight inside a building at Townsend Farms Fairview facility. Carbon monoxide from the engine then built up in the confined area.

People came to work around 8 a.m. and started feeling sick about 90 minutes later, the chief said. Shortly after somebody called firefighters.

Twenty people were taken to different hospitals to be treated. They were not all sent to the same hospital as to not inundate any one facility with too many patients.

The patients complained of feeling dizzy and light-headed.

The building was evacuated so firefighters could air it out.