02:30 PM PST on Saturday, March 25, 2006

By KRISTINA BRENNEMAN, kgw.com Staff

Carbon monoxide from a backyard barbecue seeped into a Portland apartment Friday night, sending three children to the hospital, firefighters said.

KGW photo

The charcoal barbecue was located outside the North Portland apartment where the children lived.

They have since been released, according to the Portland Fire Bureau. Five others also got sick.

Firefighters said the gas came from a seemingly innocent source – fumes from the charcoal barbecue.  The family barbecued on its back deck Friday night.

“I felt like I was going to fall over,” said 11-year-old Juan Hernandez. “And I felt like I was dead.”

He said he did fall over Friday night when firefighters arrived at his apartment. He said he didn’t know why he and his two cousins felt sick but when firefighters arrived around 9 p.m. Friday, they tested for carbon monoxide. They found levels dangerously high, or about 300 parts per million.   

Firefighters warn that carbon monoxide can come from many sources, ranging from the barbecue to engines.

(KGW reporter Dave Northfield contributed to this story.)