My poor buddy just lost his brother and his (brother's) wife and kids to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning. I can't even imagine. Such a fucked up little thing can so easily wipe out an entire family and they will never see it coming.
From today's Vancouver Sun:
Carbon monoxide poisoning likely caused death of rural B.C. family of four
Carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected of causing the deaths of a rural family of four whose bodies were found in their home, the B.C. Coroners Service said Monday.
Harvey Volaine, Melissa Penner and boys Kaylex, 10, and seven-year-old Ay were found dead inside their home Friday by RCMP.
“The focus of the investigation is on a suspected occurrence of carbon monoxide gas in the residence,” a coroner’s release said.
Ashcroft RCMP had responded to a call for a “well-being check” at Saranagati Village, a 1,600-acre Hare Krishna religious community located in the Venables Valley, about 30 kilometres south of Ashcroft.
The family “were happy-go-lucky, very outgoing people,” said Denise Keen, who manages an apartment in Ashcroft where Penner’s mother lives. “Always happy, very energetic.”
Keen said she had met Penner and her children several times when they visited Penner’s mother. Penner worked outside the Venables Valley community, Keen said.
“She’d get up, take the kids to the school, then go to her job,” Keen said.
Penner’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, said her daughter and Volaine had lived together for nine years.
She said police told her the source of the gas was a propane water heater.
Ashcroft Mayor Jack Jeyes, who said he employed Penner as a housekeeper, described her as a soft-spoken, happy person.
“She worked really hard and she was very busy with her kids. She was trying to fit some work in along with taking care of kids and all those neat things that moms have to do,” he said.
“She was a very, very pleasant person, happy, with a very soft personality.”
Jeyes said there is no power in Venables Valley and that many residents use generators.
“People are shocked, they’re saddened,” he said, adding Venables Valley residents often shop in Ashcroft.
Carbon monoxide is an odourless and tasteless gas produced during the burning of any fossil fuel. A carbon monoxide detector is a reliable method of early detection of carbon monoxide gas, the coroner service said. Anyone who suspects they have been exposed to carbon monoxide gas should seek urgent medical assistance.
About two dozen families live in Saranagati Village, which has a temple and a local school. The village was founded in the 1980s. Families live off the land and off the grid, with water from local creeks and electricity from solar panels, generators or hydro systems, according to its website.