First responders found two men dead and a woman unresponsive in a North Pole home on Wednesday afternoon, Alaska State Troopers said, and investigators suspect they were exposed to carbon monoxide.
The North Star Volunteer Fire Department was called to the home off Mill Pond Road at 1:37 p.m. because a man was reported to be unresponsive in the home’s workshop, troopers said in an online report. Both men at the home were dead and troopers said an unresponsive woman was brought to a Fairbanks hospital.
Firefighters noted indicators of carbon monoxide exposure, according to troopers, and a deputy fire marshal responded to the area with troopers.
Investigators found a generator in an attached shed, and it had an empty fuel tank and an extension cord running to the breaker panel for the structure, troopers said. A large woodstove in the workshop gave off residual heat, troopers said.
Carbon monoxide is found in fumes produced when fuel is burned. It’s an odorless, colorless gas that can build up indoors and poison people who breathe it, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautions that generators should not be used inside a home, basement or garage.
No foul play is suspected and troopers said the investigation is ongoing.
The State Medical Examiner Office requested to autopsy the men who died, troopers said. Authorities are working to notify their next-of-kin.