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High levels of carbon monoxide detected in District Four police headquarters

City manager says boiler exhaust pipes to blame
High levels of carbon monoxide detected in District Four police headquarters
Posted at 1:21 PM, Jan 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-14 10:32:39-05

CINCINNATI -- A Cincinnati police station was evacuated again Friday night because of elevated carbon monoxide levels.

And this time, city officials think they found the source: a disconnected boiler exhaust pipe.

City staff put three detectors inside Cincinnati Police District Four on Reading Road after employees started getting headaches Friday morning. They cleared the building, and firefighters and Duke Energy workers found elevated levels of the odorless-but-toxic gas inside, according to City Manager Harry Black.

The building was vented, and Black said at the time its HVAC system and boilers seemed to be working properly.

But Friday night, after the detectors sounded, one boiler's exhaust pipe was found to be separated, and another's exhaust pipe had a loose connection. Black said the problem wasn't visible from inside the building, only the outside.

District Four has five boilers, Black said, so staff shut off the two units until their exhaust pipes are fixed. The remaining three boilers can still heat the building, Black said.

There are 140 officers and three civilians assigned to District Four, and there are 15 to 20 working at a time, depending on the shift, according to Black.

The incident did not prevent any policing activities from continuing, Black said.