Carbon monoxide leak causes evacuation of downtown South Bend building on Colfax

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- Early this morning the Colfax Place building between Main and Lafayette St. was evacuated after some people inside started suffering from carbon monoxide poison.

A representative from Holladay Properties in South Bend told ABC57 that the tenants had carbon monoxide detectors put in a few days prior to the leak.

Since the building did not have detectors prior to the discovery of carbon monoxide, ABC57 asked the City Building Commissioner if it’s a requirement for buildings to have them. The answer was no.

“The state eliminated that section for requirement for carbon monoxide detectors in commercial buildings, said Building commissioner, Chuck Bulot.

When asked, officials said the carbon monoxide detectors were functioning properly and effectively alerted people in the building that carbon monoxide was present.

But they also mentioned some people working in the building said they were experiencing headaches last week, before the detectors were installed.

There were a couple people who work in the building that said they didn’t experience any symptoms.

ABC57 asked Property manager Samantha Hale about that and she didn’t have further details.

“We don’t know if this has been happening for a while or if this is something that just started,” said Hale. Today was the first day the detectors were going off.”