Posted on 09/27/2009 9:15:13 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
When Dr. Bryan Kirby and his wife Samantha tried to wake up their 2-year-old twin boys around 8:30 a.m. Monday, they discovered that the toddlers were unconscious and immediately placed a 911 call for help.
“When we responded to the scene, the parents were doing everything they could to sustain life,” Carrollton Fire Chief Jimmy Bearden said. “We administered CPR and transported them to the hospital but there just wasn’t anything anyone could do.”
Upon arrival at the hospital, the twins — Asa and Elijah — were pronounced dead. According to the police investigation, the boys suffocated due to extreme heat exposure caused by a malfunction within the heating system.
The Kirbys’ home, which was less than 10 years old, had two separate heating and air-conditioning units, one on the lower level and another on the upper level where the boys slept.
“When the parents went to wake them up, they realized that the top floor was extremely hot,” Carrollton police Investigator James Perry said. “We believe there was a problem with the unit which was a standard residential system.”
The cause of the problem, however, was still unknown Monday afternoon.
“It could have been weather-related or a malfunction in the system,” Perry said. “We have ruled out any criminal activity or negligence so the investigation is now out of our hands but we will still have an interest in the case because this is the first time we’ve seen anything like this.”
Police recommended that an electrical engineer and heating specialist look at the unit to identify the cause of the malfunction.
The Kirbys had apparently had trouble with the system in the spring, but had a technician fix the problem.
“If there was an actual malfunction with the system, we’ve all learned something new,” Perry said. “Because no one ever thought something like this could happen.”
The same thing happened to a Dallas-area family a few months ago. New baby monitors have over-temperature alarms to help prevent this from happening.
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