Brussels firefighters responded on Sunday afternoon to an apartment building in Forest where eight residents from two different flats were poisoned by carbon monoxide.
The source of the poisoning was a gas heater that no longer met safety standards.
All victims were transported to hospital.
“An ambulance was dispatched around 2:40 pm for two elderly people experiencing a medical issue in their first-floor flat on Pieter Street in Forest,” Walter Derieuw, spokesperson for the Brussels fire department, said.
“The paramedics’ carbon monoxide detector immediately went off upon entering the flat. The occupants were evacuated, and additional firefighting and medical resources were sent to the site. High levels of carbon monoxide were detected. In the second-floor flat, four adults and two children were also evacuated,” he added.
All eight residents had been poisoned by carbon monoxide and were immediately taken to the hospital.
Heating appliances in the building, from the ground floor to the second floor were sealed by Sibelga, and the gas supply was cut off.
Brussels firefighters, Sibelga, and the Poison Control Centre are urgently calling for all homes with combustion heating systems (gas heaters, coal stoves, wood stoves, pellet stoves, or oil stoves) to be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors.
“It’s a valuable investment that can save lives,” the firefighters stressed. “In 2024, four people died in the Brussels region due to carbon monoxide poisoning, and 109 people had to be hospitalised.”
