DU Students Allowed Back In Dorm After Carbon Monoxide Levels Escalate

DENVER (CBS4)- Students at the University of Denver were allowed to return to Nelson Hall after they were forced out during an investigation into increased carbon monoxide levels.

At about 3:30 a.m. Friday, several CO detectors sounded in Nelson Hall, a student residency dorm on the DU campus.

"I remember dreaming and hearing like an 'Eeeeeeeeeee,'" said one DU student.

Denver firefighters responded and found high readings of carbon monoxide. Those readings were not dangerous but several hundred students were asked to leave the building during the investigation.

"I had an exam today," said one DU student. "It makes it so difficult to try to get two hours of sleep and continue with your day.

Students were kept out of their dorm for nearly six hours during the investigation into what caused the carbon monoxide detectors to sound.

"We were told they didn't know when we were going to get back into the dorms," said DU student Nicole Walker.

Firefighters are bringing in extra-sensitive equipment to seek out any increase that wasn't originally detected.

Firefighters do not believe it was a carbon monoxide leak and focused on the ventilation system as a potential cause for the sounding of the alarms.

"At this moment we feel like it's something in the ventilation system," said DU spokeswoman Kim DeVigil.

"I just followed my friend to my friend's sorority house and found a couch to sleep on," said DU student Emma McKay.

Two students complained of nausea and they were checked out by paramedics. They were not taken to the hospital.

This is the second carbon monoxide scare in Nelson Hall.

Every sleeping room on the DU campus has a carbon monoxide alarm.

"We actually installed them proactively in all of our rooms to keep our students safe," said DeVigil.

That change was made after the death of DU student Lauren Johnson who lived in off campus housing in 2009. her death was attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.