Generator fumes fatal for 2nd person in home

A second person from a home near Loxahatchee has died after being overcome by carbon monoxide from a generator being used for electricity, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Johnnie Kotake, 74, died Saturday at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, the sheriff’s office said.

Another person, Elaine Kotake, 66, was found dead on the night of Sept. 14 after rescuers were called to the home on the 6100 block of 185th Terrace North.

The sheriff ’s office was not able to confirm how the two people were related.

Two other men at the home were also found to have been overcome by suspected carbon monoxide fumes from a generator that was placed outside but positioned so that its exhaust was directed toward a garage door that was slightly open.

One of the men remained in critical condition Thursday at St. Mary’s Medical Center, the sheriff’s office said. The other had been treated and released from Palms West Hospital.

Elsewhere in Florida there were at least five other deaths, and numerous other cases of people being overcome, while using generators for electricity in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

At least another 58 people in Palm Beach County have been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning because of improper generator use, said Tim O’Connor, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County.

Staff writer Skyler Swisher contributed to this report.