An apartment building in Anderlecht needed to be ventilated for hours on Friday evening with one resident taken to hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning due to works in the flat's underground car park.
The Brussels Fire Brigade confirmed emergency services were called to the 20-storey apartment building on Frans Van Kalkenlaan in Anderlecht on Friday evening at around 20:00.
after work carried out in the underground car park However, when the paramedics arrived on the scene, the CO detector immediately went off.
"They took the female victim to the hospital and called for reinforcements from the fire brigade," fire brigade spokesperson Walter Derieuw said. "Our people detected high CO levels in the stairwell of the building and in the underground car park."
Underground dedusting works
The high levels of CO in the building were caused by dedusting works that were in progress on the second underground floor of the car park, according to Derieuw. "The workers there were using an electrical group whose combustion gases were entering the stairwell."
The discovery led to an immediate stop of the works and the entire building was ventilated, although no residents needed to be evacuated.
"We did not have to evacuate anyone but advised the residents to leave all windows and doors open as long as possible," the fire service spokesperson continued. "The workers who were working in the garage showed no problems."
The fire brigade spent about three hours ventilating the building and access to the car park was closed.
