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Sun Current Guest Column
Minnesotan
hopes family’s tragedy will serve as reminder to others
By Tom Jenson
Guest Columnist
When I decided to contact Eddie Kempf-Schwarze in December, I knew it was
going to be one of the hardest phone calls I’ve ever had to make. In October,
Eddie’s parents were killed and his brother left with terminal brain damage by
the silent assassin known as carbon monoxide (CO). Father, Lee; mother, Nancy;
and brother, Michael, all of Hutchinson, Minn., had gone north to spend the
weekend winterizing their Longville, Minn. Cabin. They never made it back home.
After an emotional phone call, Eddie and I met at Edina City Hall on a
cold and snowy December evening. He spoke about their cabin, and how it has been
in his family for over 50 years. What was once a place of fond family memories,
he says, is now nothing more than an ominous reminder of preventable deaths. The
cabin did not have CO alarms.
“Why didn’t someone say something? Why
didn’t I say something?” Eddie, 32 years old, a husband and father of three
continues to ask himself.
Reports state that the CO poisoning was
caused by a faulty gas stove vent in the cabin. Since CO can’t be seen, smelled
or tasted, Eddie’s parents and brother had no idea they were being poisoned.
Before that night, I had never met Eddie or his parents. They weren’t from
Edina, and have no connection to the City. However, I felt that this story hit
too close to home, was too preventable, and needed to be told. Eddie agreed.
“The whole family, we are all hurting,” said Eddie, whose support system of
his wife, kids, surviving sister and extended family have helped him remain
strong through this trying time. “A carbon monoxide alarm is $15. $15 can save
your live.”
Eddie’s parents and brother were found by an extended family
member. Lee and Nancy were dead. Perhaps even more tragic then their immediate
death was the slow deterioration of his brother Michael. Eddie himself admits
that a part of him wishes his younger sibling had also gone peacefully with his
mom and dad.
“He had such bad brain damage,” said Eddie. “If he had
survived, he would have been the equivalent of a newborn baby. Now, he’ll never
grow up to be a Sheriff like he wanted. It was sad to watch.”
Michael
remained in comfort care, breathing through a tracheostomy tube until he passed
away, just days before Christmas.
State law requires that all homes,
trailers and cabins have working CO alarms, yet they are still one of the most
overlooked safety devices when traveling. Like a smoke alarm, at least one
should be present anywhere you are spending the night. In addition to death from
high exposure, many people are unaware that serious health problems can occur
from long-term, low exposure. Without an alarm, there is no way of knowing.
Eddie hopes that his story will serve as a tragic reminder for people to take
safety with them when they travel.
“If I can make sure that someone else
does not go through it, I will,” he said.
Since Schwarze family’s
tragedy, CO has been involved in a number of incidents and at least one more
death in Minnesota. On Tuesday, Dec. 29, a St. Paul couple was found unconscious
by their son after a faulty boiler in their home caused high levels of CO. They
survived.
A month later, seven people, including three
emergency responders, were taken to the hospital after a faulty furnace leaked
carbon monoxide into a home just outside of Bemidji Saturday, Jan. 30. The owner
of the home did not survive.
Tom Jenson is Edina Fire Marshal.
For more information visit www.CityofEdina.com/Fire or call the Edina Fire
Department at 952-826-0378.
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