Perry Family Dental Care staff in Antrim evacuate due to smell

Employees at Perry Family Dental Care evacuated Tuesday morning after staff members who came to open for the day thought they smelled propane.

Fire Chief Marshall Gale said employees left the building and called 911 after noticing the smell. After arriving firefighters first checked the propane tank and confirmed it was working properly, they checked the building with a meter and found carbon monoxide levels of 8 parts per million near the furnace.

According to Gale, 9 parts per million is the highest acceptable for a 24-hour period.

Gale said employees had also called a heating, ventilation and air conditioning technician who was on the way. Firefighters ventilated the building and got the carbon monoxide readings down to zero, allowing employees to return. They also made sure CO detectors were placed properly throughout the building.

Gale also noted that employees had opened all the doors and windows before firefighters arrived, which is not a bad thing, but makes it harder to get a reading.

“Obviously, the first thing we want people to do is to evacuate the building,” he said. “We got 8 parts per million, but the readings could have been even higher. We don’t know.”