The Jenkins Foundation was formed in memory of Daryl and Shirley Jenkins who both lost their lives to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning on April 16, 2013, in a hotel room in Boone, North Carolina. The carbon monoxide came from a corroded pool heater exhaust system located directly below their room. It was later learned the hotel had no carbon monoxide detection system installed. As a result, Daryl and Shirley had no alert to evacuate the room, the hotel staff had no way of knowing their guests were in lifethreatening danger, and investigators did not immediately investigate CO as the cause of their deaths. Consequently, the tragedy did not end there…

Seven weeks later, 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams and his mother, Jeannie, were checked into the same hotel room. The following morning, both were found unconscious by hotel staff after having been exposed overnight to the high levels of CO that were still being discharged — undetected — into the room. Jeffrey did not survive. Jeannie, in addition to losing her son, was left with long-term physical effects related to extended exposure to high levels of CO.

At the hotel, it took the involvement of a HazMat Team to finally determine what a simple carbon monoxide alarm could have immediately indicated weeks earlier. What could and should have been only a simple building evacuation instead resulted in the loss of three lives and permanent harm to a fourth.

Ironically, both Daryl and Shirley were well educated about the dangers of carbon monoxide. They had alarms in their home. Shirley had actually worked for a natural gas company for 30 years and was aware of the danger of carbon monoxide and the lifesaving value of carbon monoxide alarms.

The crucial piece of information they were missing was the fact that not all hotels in this country are required to have carbon monoxide detection systems, even if gas appliances are installed.

The deaths of Daryl and Shirley and 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams in the same hotel room, have been collectively referred to by some as an anomaly: A tragic perfect storm of events that no one could have predicted or prevented. Regarding hotel carbon monoxide incidents in general, representatives of the hotel industry have been quoted as saying, “CO incidents are rare, so there’s no need for laws requiring hotels to have alarms. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being hit with CO poisoning.”

But after three carbon monoxide deaths occurred in the same hotel room, the victims’ families formed the Jenkins Foundation dedicated to the prevention of deaths and injuries due to carbon monoxide poisoning, at home and when traveling, through education and advocacy.

They began compiling carbon monoxide incidents because there’s no nationwide database of information to search. Incredibly, no federal agency tracks carbon monoxide poisoning incidents in hotels.

Combining their findings with a list that had already been started by Dr. Lindell Weaver, they created a spreadsheet of carbon monoxide incidents that goes from 1967 to the present time.

Real-world cases of carbon monoxide poisoning — and particularly those taking place in commercial settings — highlight the importance of proper venting.

Here are some of the most recent pool and spa heater-related incidents: In a relatively recent incident taking place at a Hampton Inn in Marysville, Ohio, in 2022, 14 people were hospitalized after breathing life-threatening amounts of carbon monoxide in the pool area of the hotel. Fire Chief Jay Riley said his crews had never seen CO levels that high — including one reading in the pool area showing CO levels above 1,300 parts per million. An investigation found that the pool heater was the culprit and that a plastic bag was blocking a fresh-air intake in the equipment room. The hotel did have a carbon monoxide detector, but it was not functioning.

The Jorgenson’s Inn and Suites in Helena, Montana, had an issue with the pool heater in 2020 that sent seven people to the hospital. Fire Marshal Lou Antonick said there was a “catastrophic failure” in the exhaust system of the pool heater. “With that kind of a failure, it’s going to dump quite a bit of carbon monoxide exhaust into the air, which is going to begin to filter through the whole building,” he said. About four rooms were occupied at the time of the incident.

The Shore Club South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, had a carbon monoxide incident from a pool heater in 2020 that sent nine employees to the hospital before they were released. Six to 8 rooms were evacuated.

These incidents are a serious reminder about the importance of adhering to safety codes and ensuring proper venting practices.