Family encounter second carbon monoxide scare in one month

By Tosin Fakile

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — On Friday, for a second time in a span of two weeks, a mother and six children, had to leave their home in Edgehill Apartments because of high levels of carbon monoxide.

The housing project is operated by Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency.

“She had to save the life of her and her kids again from these apartments,” Alexus Pendergrass said. Her mom and siblings had to hurry out of the apartment because of high levels of carbon monoxide.

Pendergrass said she and her family were in disbelief about being in the same situation they were in just weeks earlier. On Jan 8th, her mom and sisters woke up to one of her younger sisters about to pass out. She said they evacuated the apartment and went to the hospital. Doctors said it was carbon monoxide.

Pendergrass said her 43-year-old mother and one of the children have pre-existing health issues. Frustrated, she can’t believe her mom and siblings are going through yet another carbon monoxide exposure incident.

“Well today is what, roughly two weeks after that incident, and my mom woke up this morning and she heard the alarm go off; the fire alarm going off, assumed it was carbon monoxide. Instinctively called the office. The office was not open at that time, and instantly grabbed the kids and headed to the neighbor’s house where they’ve been for since 8 this morning,” Pendergrass said.

“So here we are again, 2 weeks after they said they fixed everything with another carbon monoxide leak with the kids in the house,” she added.

The family says they could only grab a few things along with the kids when they left the house to call 911. Nashville Fire Department said there were high levels of carbon monoxide in the area when they arrived on scene.

“It’s extremely frustrating, and to even go as far as to have the higher ups come in and clear everything and have my family go back into the same exact unit and for the same exact thing to happen. I mean there are kids in there,” Pendergrass said.

We asked MDHA officials if the unit was checked after the first time to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

“When we got into the unit a couple weeks ago, the vent pipe had been knocked off, so our staff got the vent pipe back on, re-tested for Co2 levels, didn’t get any. And we replaced the smoke and carbon monoxide dual detectors with brand new ones,” Jamie Berry, the Director of Communications for Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency said.

Berry said they are working to address the issue.

“I will tell you is that we are replacing that heating unit as a precaution. So that heating unit will be replaced this weekend and we are putting the family up in a hotel room this weekend,’ Berry said.

We pressed, asking if there is more MDHA could do to make sure the Pendergrass family, and other families who live in the housing project, don’t ever have to experience this again.

“MDHA has more than 5000 units and last week we delivered flyers to all our residents to make sure they were aware of what they needed to do if they’re smoke and carbon monoxide went off,” Berry said.

“Had my mom not been on the P’s and Q’s to just gather everybody and run into the freezing cold, people would have been in there; it could have got a lot worse,” Pendergrass said.

Berry with MDHA said when maintenance staff enter a unit, they have a check list, and one of the things they check off is if the smoke and carbon monoxide detector is functioning properly. We asked MDHA if this is a common problem with this housing project. Berry said this was the first time this type of incident has happened back-to-back since she has been with the agency.

“I would like for them to be urgent when their tenants come to them with concerns they have with their apartments,” Pendergrass said.

If you want to help the family, here is a link to the GoFundMe.

Berry says MDHA is putting the family up in a hotel for the weekend while repairs are made again to the apartment unit.

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