By Angela Stewart
The NJ Star-Ledger

HACKENSACK, NJ — Sixteen Hackensack residents — nine of them children — were hospitalized for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning tonight after being exposed to the gas while barbecuing, police said tonight.

The victims were being treated at both Hackensack University Medical Center and Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, according to Deputy Chief Matthew Wagner of the Hackensack police.

A spokeswoman for the Hackensack hospital, Anne Marie Campbell, confirmed five children were being evaluated and treated there.

Three adults were taken to Holy Name, where they still were being assessed late tonight, spokeswoman Jane Ellis said.

The whereabouts of the other eight victims could not be ascertained tonight.

According to Wagner, it was around 8:30 p.m. that police were called to a two-family house on Kansas Street after neighbors noticed smoke and flames coming from the dwelling.

Upon arrival, police found a barbecue fire pit in the backyard, as well as a 55-gallon drum in the basement filled with smoldering charcoal briquettes. Wagner said a guinea pig was being roasted on the outdoor pit, but he did not know what was being cooked inside the house.

"We began evacuation of all the occupants, began ventilation of the building," he said. "We took oxygen levels and noticed a few of them had lower oxygen levels, probably indicating they had carbon monoxide poisoning."

The deputy chief did not have the victims' identities but said they were members of two families.

Authorities said the building did not have working carbon monoxide detectors. Wagner said a barbecue pit needs proper ventilation and is best left outside.

Carbon monoxide poisoning claims hundreds of American lives each year. The colorless, odorless gas is produced by incomplete combustion in fuel-burning devices such as motor vehicles, gas-powered furnaces and portable generators. Symptoms include headache, nausea, dizziness or confusion.

Unintentional carbon monoxide exposure accounts for an estimated 15,000 emergency department visits and 500 unintentional deaths in the United States each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Copyright 2008, The N.J. Star-Ledger