Carbon Monoxide Forces Evacuation Of Boulder Run Apartments, Stores

Dangerously high carbon monoxide levels at Boulder Run forced residents, employees and customers in one section of the strip mall to be evacuated on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Wyckoff Fire Department along with Midland Park, Waldwick and Franklin Lakes fire departments responded to a carbon monoxide alarm on the second floor residential section of the shopping center that skirts Godwin Avenue at approximately 2:30 p.m.

Firefighters donned breathing masks and entered the apartments to evacuate residents.

"The alarm went off around 2:30 and said there was carbon monoxide," said Sean Wingfield, a resident standing beside the apartment building entrance in the light rain. 

Firefighters knocked on all the doors up and down his hallway and told residents to evacuate, Wingfield said. 

According to Wyckoff Fire Department Chief Mike Rose, someone in a non-operational storefront on the ground floor had been using a concrete saw that caused carbon monoxide levels to rise to about 180 parts per million in the residence up stairs. 

"Anything above 20 to 30 parts per million and we need to go on breathing air," Rose said of his firefighters. "It is very very serious."

Rose added that the type of saw believed to have caused the incident Wednesday shoud not be used in a closed environment. 

Volunteer Firefighter and Committeeman Doug Christie on the scene Wednesday afternoon, said officials were reporting "super-high readings" of carbon monoxide from the second floor apartments.   

Wyckoff Police and fire vehicles blocked traffic in the area surrounding the stores and Wyckoff EMS erected a tent for displaced employees, shoppers and residents.

It's unclear how long the concrete saw was being operated or whether the party responsible for the operation of the saw was present in the building when firefighters got the initial call. 

The Fire Department would forward details of the incident to the Wyckoff Building Department for further investigation, Chief Rose said.

Rose confirmed that there were no injuries related to the carbon monoxide leak.

Firefighters isolated the carbon monoxide leak, venting and testing the air in the second story apartments, as well as the stores on the ground floor. By approximately 4:30 p.m. fire officials and employees at several stores said both residential and commercial properties had been reoccupied. 

The main drag of Boulder Run stores — including stores from Starbucks to Marshalls — was unaffected by the carbon monoxide scare.

Contact editor Joseph M. Gerace at Joseph.Gerace@patch.com, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.