MUNCIE — A father and his two young children are dead from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Three lives lost. So quickly, and sadly. It's heartbreaking," Deborah Creek.
Creek lives in the neighborhood and says she helped start a memorial for the family.
Emergency personnel were called to the home in the 1700 block of East Yale on Sunday for someone unresponsive.
Arriving crews found an adult and two young kids unresponsive in the home. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members tell WRTV the mother was transported to the hospital and is currently being treated for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
Delaware County Coroner Gavin Greene identified the victims as a 1-year-old girl, a 3-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man.
"While on scene, the Muncie Fire Department had high readings of carbon monoxide in the house," Greene said in a press release issued Monday afternoon.
The family credits mom's survival to her sleeping near an air conditioning window unit.
"There's just no sense, no understanding, why these things happen," Creek said. "I don't want anybody to die for any reason before their time. But this, this seems so senseless. So sad, so sad. Something nobody would ever think of. In this weather."
The family tells WRTV they hope this story serves as a reminder, the importance of carbon monoxide detectors.
"It is odorless, it is tasteless, you can not tell. It can give some people headaches," Matthew Grindstaff said.
Grindstaff is he chief investigator for the Muncie Fire Department, he says CO poisoning can happen quickly.
"It is not something that we ever want to deal with or ever want to be exposed to," he said.
Grindstaff says he recommends everyone get a carbon monoxide detector.
The gas is deadly and can CO poisoning can happen quickly without people even knowing.
Firefighters say CO can come from many things, and a sensor is vial for survival.
They recommend placing it close to the ground and checking it every time your clocks change.
An autopsy was performed on Monday, the results are pending a toxicology and pathologist report.
The deaths remain under investigation at this time.
