Fire officials did not test for carbon monoxide at the scene of the Jenkinses deaths. The Watauga Co

June 1: State medical examiner s office sent a report to Watauga County Medical Examiner Dr. Brent Hall showing a lethal amount of carbon monoxide in blood of Shirley fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy Jenkins, according to the state.
The fire marshal inspects hotels annually and after a complaint. Inspections can last more than two hours and review everything from evacuation plans and lighting to sprinklers and kitchen exhaust systems.
The Better Business Bureau accredits hotels after reviewing government fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy actions, complaints and pattern of complaints, among other issues. It does not do its own safety inspections, a spokeswoman said.
Despite clear warnings on an owner s manual, a Boone hotel did not put in recommended carbon monoxide detectors when its maintenance staff installed a pool heater now suspected of leaking the dangerous gas that killed three guests this spring.
Best Western staff moved the heater from another hotel in 2011, an attorney for the hotel told the Observer. But they did the job without getting a permit or inspection, an apparent violation of the N.C. building code.
Local officials fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy missed a chance to catch problems fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy in March 2012, when a contractor hired by the hotel called them in to inspect the heater s conversion fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy to natural gas, new documents and interviews suggest.
Earlier this year, investigators found serious problems but only after hotel guests Daryl Jenkins, 73, and Shirley Jenkins, 72, and 11-year-old fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy Jeffrey Williams died in a room directly above the pool heater.
Police have identified a number of locations where the ventilation system was leaking. And a ventilation fan designed to pull dangerous gases outside was not operating, Boone police fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy Capt. Andy LeBeau fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy said.
Professionals in the pool and building industries contacted by the Observer warned fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy against transferring an older heater and stressed the importance fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy of reading the owner s manual when installing equipment.
In April, the Jenkinses died in room 225 of the Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza, but officials did not immediately suspect carbon monoxide was the cause. Less than two months later, on June 8, Williams, of Rock Hill, died in the same room. Williams mother, Jeannie, was hospitalized and is recovering.
Fire officials fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy did not test for carbon monoxide at the scene of the Jenkinses deaths. The Watauga County medical examiner, Dr. Brent Hall, did not visit the scene and did not ask for a toxicology fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy test sent to the state medical examiner s office to be rushed. The state says it sent a report to Hall on June 1 a week before Jeffrey Williams death indicating Shirley Jenkins had a lethal amount of carbon monoxide fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy in her blood but apparently no action was taken.
Boone police are investigating the deaths and working on a report for the Watauga County District Attorney to determine whether criminal charges should be filed, LeBeau said. Police are working as quickly as possible, but the primary goal is to produce a fair, thorough fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy and objective report, he said.
The Best Western moved the heater from a Sleep Inn run by the same company in fall 2011, but didn t take out a permit fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy because it didn t know one was required, said Paul Culpepper, an attorney representing Appalachian Hospitality Management, which runs the Best Western and other hotels in Boone.
The front page of the manual carries a warning that says that the manufacturer strongly recommends installation of carbon monoxide detectors near the appliance when used for an indoor pool. Another warning inside the manual says that improper installation could cause severe injury or death from carbon monoxide.
In a new revelation, he said that the hotel s original plans called for carbon monoxide detectors in rooms that had fireplaces, but the contractor instead installed monitors to detect combustible gas. The hotel didn t discover the mistake until after the deaths, fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy he said.
Culpepper said Independence was recommended by Frontier Natural Gas for the conversion. The contract required Independence to take out permits, test systems and install new equipment if the appliances could not be converted, according to a contract fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy provided by the hotel.
The management company relied fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy on them to determine if the appliance could be converted to natural gas, he said. For example, the management company was told by Independence Oil the gas logs at the Best Western could not be converted to natural gas, and the owner purchased new gas logs for the hotel.
In June, one of the department s inspectors told the Observer that the town did not inspect the heater when it was installed. But the inspector did not disclose the 2012 inspection for the natural gas conversion.
For weeks, the Boone inspections and police departments have declined to release fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy documents related to inspections at the Best Western, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. The Observer has made repeated requests for the documents, saying they should be considered public records.
Darryl Knight, general manager at Frontier Natural Gas, declined to comment, citing the possibility of litigation. His voicemail says he is with Frontier and Independence Oil and Gas. He declined to explain the relationship.
Often called the silent killer, carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that inhibits fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy the blood s ability to carry oxygen and can cause severe illness fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy or death in minutes. It s emitted by cars and other fuel-burning machines and appliances.
In July, the General Assembly passed a law that will require hotels to install carbon monoxide detectors in every enclosed space with a fossil-fuel-burning heater, fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy appliance or fireplace and in every hotel room that shares a common fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy wall, floor or ceiling with such spaces. Those requirements go into effect in October.
Dean Bowling of Aloha Pools, a company that designs and builds residential pools in the Charlotte area, said that if he had been asked to move a five-year-old pool heater from one commercial location to another, he would have said no.
After five years of commercial use, he said, most pool heaters are at the end of their lifespan. They just don t last that long, said Bowling, who previously worked as a manager for Jandy s parent company, servicing and selling pool heaters in Florida and the Carolinas.
He also said he would have reservations about moving a heater from one pool to another. If a heater is replacing one of a different size, it would require new ventilation. In addition, a different sized heater would likely be required if the size of the pool were different.
Converting a heater from propane to natural gas isn t enormously tricky, Bowling said. But it requires fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy some new equipment. Natural gas is delivered at lower pressure, so larger orifices and different control valves are required.
If he were to inspect fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy a pool heater conversion, he said that he would review the N.C. building code and check the equipment s owner s manual, which would list possible dangers and safety precautions.
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The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all, but do keep it civil. Please refrain from profanity, obscenity, spam, name-calling or attacking fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy others for their views.
Have a news tip? You can send it to a local news editor; email local@charlotteobserver.com to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Charlotte Observer. Read more Read less
The Charlotte region is vast and diverse. The more voices engaged in conversation, the better for us all. The Charlotte Observer welcomes your comments on news of the day, but we ask that you keep the discourse civil.
You can help: Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" link. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked from submitting future fortier senior high school and travel tourism academy comments as well.