A carbon monoxide leak caused two employees to lose consciousness at an Olathe restaurant. It happened at the Noodles and Company near 119th & Blackbob on Monday morning.
Some of the businesses that were evacuated were allowed to reopen around 1 p.m. Five people were treated at the scene while three employees went to area hospitals. All are expected to make a full recovery. Emergency dispatchers received a 911 call around 11 a.m. Monday. Six workers and two customers at the restaurant waited for firefighters to test their CO levels.
“It’s very unnerving,” said Tim Roumas with Noodles & Co. “It’s an invisible. You can’t smell it, can’t see it, next thing you know you’re unconscious I guess.”
Area manager Tim Roumas says two of his employees fainted inside the restaurant.
“They were sitting and slumped over,” Roumas said. “One was just kind of it and out of consciousness and dizzy, one was unresponsive at the time.”
Firefighters quickly evacuated neighboring businesses that share ventilation with Noodles and Company.
“They went through and read it and told us basically we had too many parts per million of the CO 2 so we had to clear out,” said Radio Shack employee Brian Rankin.
Radio Shack manager Brian Rankin says his store measured 65 parts per billion but firefighters say Noodles and Company had reached 150. Normal is zero.
“They told me they were going to put some fans up in the ventilation system and tried to kick the rest of it through and get any residual out,” Rankin said.
While the law requires all homes and businesses to have smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors not required by law. Though it turns out the folks at Noodles and Company could buy one next door if they wanted to, at Radio Shack.
“Ironically enough we do have them,” Rankin said.
Noodles and Company brought in a heating and cooling expert to find and fix the source of the carbon monoxide leak. It’s likely the restaurant will reopen on Tuesday.