A routine round in Carbon County turned into a rescue when two Utah parole officers found two unconscious men and three pets suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning inside a home.
The Utah Department of Corrections said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, April 28, that Adult Probation and Parole agents Nick Parker and Kelten Larsen “jumped into action after hearing an emergency dispatch call in Carbon County.”
According to the department, “They arrived first on scene and found two unresponsive men in their 30s, along with two cats and a dog in distress due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The men credit our agents with saving their lives.”
Parker said he and Larsen were checking on people from their caseload in the area when they heard a police radio call about a 37-year-old man who was unconscious and breathing strangely, according to KSL-TV 5 and ETV News.
“We both assumed it was probably an overdose. I looked at Kelton and said, ‘I think we should go to that,’ ” Parker told ETV News.
When they got to the home, the officers found two men unconscious in a hallway between a bedroom and a bathroom. They started giving aid, then began feeling symptoms themselves.
“I started feeling it in my chest and lungs, with heavier breathing [and] muscle fatigue,” Larsen told ETV News. “I wasn’t able to pull the guy out like I should have been able to.”
“My fingertips and lips went numb,” Parker added. “I felt unbalanced, like my body was moving but my brain was lagging behind.”
“I like to think I’m pretty strong, but I was struggling just holding onto his legs. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right,” Parker continued.
Despite that, Parker and Larsen kept working and, with help from other emergency responders who arrived, dragged the two men outside, according to KSL-TV 5 and ETV News.
The officers then went back into the house to check for anyone else and rescued two cats and a dog.
“He’d stand up and just stumble sideways,” Larsen said of the dog. “There was saliva and snot coming out. He was in bad shape.”
The two men were taken to hospital for treatment, according to KSL-TV 5 and ETV News.
Authorities later learned a generator had been running inside the home, which they believe caused the carbon monoxide leak, the outlets reported.
Speaking to ETV News after the rescue, Parker said, “Anyone in this profession would have done the same thing. It was right place, right time.”
“It didn’t really hit me until I saw a comment from one of the victim’s family members,” Parker said. “That’s when it clicked, this is someone’s son. Someone’s family. And we helped save them.”
“I went to a meeting for my kid’s soccer team later that day. And it hit me, those are someone’s kids too. Someone’s brother. We helped them survive,” Larsen added.
“It took all of us. Everyone stepped in right when we needed it,” Larsen said while speaking to ETV News.
