Fumes kill family of three

Jen Lawson

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 11:32 a.m.

Ways to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning:

Source: Las Vegas Fire & Rescue

After her neighbors and their six pets were found dead Thursday of carbon monoxide poisoning, Rene Ciaramitaro's husband brought home a detector for the poisonous gas.

"You just never know," she said. "We're going to start checking things, being more aware."

"You think if your house is equipped with smoke detectors you'll be fine. You just don't think about (carbon monoxide)."

She and others remembered 34-year-old Joel "Kelly" Wood, his wife, 35-year-old Stephanie Wood, and Stephanie's 13-year-old daughter, Kaela Christiansen, as a tight-knit family who loved the outdoors, camping and hunting.

A pickup truck with stickers of game animals on it was parked in their driveway Thursday morning, just outside the garage where the large generator that produced the gas that killed them was kept.

The family's three dogs, two cats and chinchilla also died.

Metro Police spokesman Jose Montoya said the Woods got into a dispute with Nevada Power, and the power to the house was shut off about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

They set up a large gasoline-powered generator in their two-car garage and used it to supply power a television in the living room, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said. A long extension cord ran from the generator to the television.

Investigators determined the generator ran for several hours, allowing carbon monoxide to slowly leak into the house and reach a lethal level, Szymanski said.

They died late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, authorities said. The Clark County Coroner will determine the cause and time of death.

"It's strictly a tragic accident," Szymanski said.

Authorities said Joel's father came to the family's house in the 8800 block of Spinning Wheel Avenue near El Capitan Way and Fort Apache Road shortly before 9 a.m. because Joel hadn't reported for work. Father and son worked together at American Sheet Metal.

The couples' two pickup trucks were in the driveway, but the house was locked, Metro Police spokesman Jose Montoya said. He walked to the home of a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who lives a few doors down and asked him for help.

The trooper, who declined to comment, looked in a window and saw a dog who appeared to be dead on the floor so he called Metro for assistance, Montoya said.

Officers and firefighters from Las Vegas Fire and Rescue arrived and forced the front door open.

"They got headaches as soon as they went in and realized it was carbon monoxide," Montoya said.

Stephanie Wood and Kaela Christiansen were found dead on a sofa in the living room in front of the television. Joel Wood was found in the upstairs master bedroom. Szymanski said it appeared he had been walking through the room when he was overcome with the lethal gas and collapsed.

Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen said the power was disconnected to the home, but she would not explain why the power was shut off.

"I'm not sure why someone said there was a dispute," she said, refusing to explain exactly what she meant.

She said privacy laws prevented her from saying any more about it.

Headen said customers whose power is in danger of being turned off are notified 10 days in advance by mail. A second notification is made 48 hours before the scheduled power shutoff either by hanging a notice on the front doorknob or by mail, she said.

Gathered across the street from the house Thursday morning, neighbors wondered what caused the power to be turned off.

"You don't think of people in this area as having financial problems," neighbor Suzanne Wurtzel said.

Derek and Stephanie married on April 30, 2000. Anita Sirman, who worked with Joel for nine years at the sheet metal company, said although Kaela was Joel's stepdaughter, "she was his as far as he was concerned."

"He was incredible," Sirman said. "He was like a brother to me."

He bought his four-bedroom, two-story home, cream colored with green shutters, in 1999.

Ciaramitaro said her family moved in around the same time. She described them as outgoing and friendly.

"They were a regular family," she said. "They did things together, went on trips together. They did a lot of things outdoors" such as riding all-terrain vehicles.

Joel Wood was always building things, such as cabinets, in the garage and often had his dogs outside with him as he worked on his projects.

Kaela, who was an eighth grader at Cadwallader Middle School, "was beautiful," Sirman said. "She was into everything her parents were into, like hunting."

The family enjoyed going on camping trips, she said. Joel "loved to go through the old ghost towns and the old mining towns. If they had a long weekend they were gone."

Reached by phone, Royce Wood said he was too upset to talk, adding that Joel was his only child and Stephanie was also an only child.

Szymanski said this will probably be considered on of Las Vegas' most tragic accidents.

The house had a burglar alarm and a smoke detector but no carbon monoxide detector, Szymanski said.

This tragedy shows carbon monoxide "is a potential killer," he said, and recommended that everyone buy the device, which costs less than $40. Smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector combinations are also on the market.

Some people experience dizziness and nausea when exposed to carbon monoxide and others just feel drowsy. Szymanski said they family could have just thought they were tired from their day.

They didn't call for help, Szymanski said, because "they didn't know there was a problem."

This will probably be remembered as one of Las Vegas' most tragic accidents, he said.

Szymanski and Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach each said they couldn't recall anyone dying accidentally from carbon monoxide poisoning in Las Vegas Valley, although there have been some close calls.

On New Year's Day 2003, a family of seven was hospitalized after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning from a barbecue grill that had been brought into the home.

In January 1999, four people were overcome by carbon monoxide after trying to cook in the kitchen using a barbecue grill.

On Christmas Day 1998, five members of of a Las Vegas family were hospitalized after the air intake in the natural gas furnace was blocked, filling the house with carbon monoxide.