TOLEDO, Ohio — Some residents living in the Canyon Cove Villas and Townhomes in south Toledo claim to have been struggling with carbon monoxide issues for months. The Toledo Fire Department confirmed it has responded to two calls for carbon monoxide issues on the property, going back as far as March.
WTOL 11 spoke to two residents who said they've been removed from their homes following carbon monoxide leaks twice, at one point being relocated from their homes for days.
Toledo fire said the most recent leak was on Oct. 4. Now, Canyon Cove residents are concerned if there isn't a major overhaul of the entire complex soon, there could be another incident.
Bianca Arnold, a mother of two, is from one of the three families affected. She said her family's experience with carbon monoxide in their home started the night of March 21.
"We were woken up about 4:30 in the morning to our detector going off, we got our girls out of the house, out to fresh air," Arnold said.
Toledo fire arrived and confirmed dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in all three townhomes, all stemming from old furnaces.
Arnold said the property management promised to address the issue.
"They just had regular maintenance come out and fix it, even though I had asked them to have professionals come out because I was concerned for my children's safety," she said.
Soon after, Canyon Cove management sent out an email to all the residents encouraging them to check their carbon monoxide detectors.
Arnold said she found the email frustrating because she had installed her own detector.
"They never provided any for us," she said.
Arnold assumed the issue was dealt with. However, six months later, Arnold's daughter started suddenly vomiting. Shortly after, their detectors went off again. TFRD Pvt. Sterling Rahe said the department was there the night of this incident as well.
"It was the officer's recommendation that those folks leave, at least air out their management company, and get that rectified before they went back in," Rahe said.
TFRD readings indicated the level of carbon monoxide in the townhomes was 30 parts per million.
While that's not at a lethal level, the side effects can be extremely unpleasant, such as "headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting," Rahe said.
Arnold said her daughter experienced all those symptoms right before their detectors went off.
With the townhomes deemed unsafe, Toledo fire recommended the residents stay out until the issue could be fixed. To finally prevent further leaks, Arnold said the management hired Maverick HVAC to install new furnaces, turning off the gas for the residents for eight days in the process.
"I had nowhere that was safe, nowhere with heat, nowhere with hot water, nowhere with gas to cook," Arnold said.
She said Canyon Cove management offered them another townhome to shower in temporarily, but a cell phone video from Arnold's husband showed bags of trash and broken pieces of tile and ceiling in the other townhome.
"They gave us a key to come and shower at 5856, and look at this," he said, as he kicked one of the trash bags laying on the ground.
Feeling like she was running out of options, Arnold's family and the other residents ended up paying out of pocket for a hotel, displaced from their homes for eight days while they waited for the issue to be resolved.
Angelica Tyrell, who also lived in Canyon Cove, said the entire situation left her frustrated.
"They haven't really compensated any of us for getting hotel rooms or anything like that, because we had nowhere to go," she said. And they're like, 'oh, your renters' insurance will cover it.' But not everyone has renters insurance and it's not required."
Following the incident, Tyrell moved out of Canyon Cove.
Arnold and her family have since returned to their home now that the new furnace has been installed. But she said because it took the property management over six months to fix the faulty device, she's worried about the possibility of it happening to other residents living in the complex.
"Everybody else who's in here, who probably has bad furnaces, because it sounds like it's a property-wide issue, they're just stuck, and that's terrible," Arnold said.
The day after she spoke with WTOL 11, Arnold sent a photo showing an eviction notice on her door.
Canyon Cove's property management declined an on-camera interview. Instead, a spokesperson from Canyon Cove sent a statement:
"Our safety protocol systems work as intended and we follow all industry-standard best practices and procedures. The residents of Canyon Cove can be confident we will always address issues safely, properly, and as quickly as possible.
We never leave gas or carbon monoxide issues open or unattended. Our homes are outfitted with CO2 detectors, and we maintain a live answering service call center and have emergency on-call technicians available 24/7 in the event an incident arises. We are always prepared to handle issues.
In this instance, alarms went off properly and the residents exited their homes. The Fire Department and gas company were contacted as necessary, the gas was terminated, and repairs were safely made as quickly as possible. Then the gas company performed its standard inspection before the gas was restored and residents returned home. We accommodated our residents with reasonable rent abatement for any inconvenience they incurred in addition to the coverage they received from their renter’s insurance policy which they are required to maintain."