A seven-year-old girl from Lakeland has died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the generator was being run inside the living room of a home located at 5124 Dossey Road South.
41-year-old Shashunda Wilson said she woke up Wednesday morning and was feeling dizzy. She also noticed her daughter appeared dead.
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Wilson was transported to Lakeland Regional Medical Center for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Crews opened the windows to the home and found Terryn Wilson, 7, dead in a bed after it was safe to enter the home.
The mother told detectives that she recently obtained a generator due to having lost power during Hurricane Irma, and that this was the first time she had used one, and she was not aware that it could not be in the home.
The carbon monoxide level in her home was measured at 150 parts per million. The unoccupied other half of the duplex measured at 88 parts per million. The generator is a Power Stroke 5500 watt.
A neighboring duplex had dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, as well.
“It’s just sad that’s how I feel about it. It’s sad, but desperate times are calling for desperate measures and people are doing anything, you know, to get air," one woman said. "Take all precautions with the generator. Google it {or} ask someone because you know it’s hot. It’s hot and people are doing anything just to cool down".
No one else was affected.
"This is the first death our agency has worked related to Hurricane Irma. It's a tragedy when anyone dies, but when a child dies, it's a horrific tragedy. Please, please follow safety instructions that we have stressed over and over so no other tragedies such as this one occur," said Sheriff Grady Judd.
