Carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty or decrepit furnace killed a man in his Scarborough home and sent two police officers to hospital.
“They … barely made it out of the house,” Det. Jason Cole of 42 Division said.
The officers arrived at the home on Wishing Well Drive near Sheppard Avenue East Sunday after a call from a worried neighbour.
They were searching the home for anyone else who may have been inside after discovering the man’s body, Cole said.
“As [the officers] entered the basement, they were both overcome by carbon monoxide,” he said.
The officers were rushed to North York General Hospital where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries. They have since been released.
Cole could not confirm reports that a paramedic was also hospitalized.
Toronto Fire Services confirmed the source of the noxious fumes was the faulty furnace, police said.
The furnace may have been an outdated model left over from a conversion to gas from oil, Cole said.