EAST PROVIDENCE — East Providence Firefighters and rescues from about a half-dozen other area departments responded to a significant carbon monoxide incident Saturday evening, Jan. 23, at the Holy Ghost Beneficial Brotherhood Club located at 51 North Phillips St.

EPFD Chief Oscar Elmasian reported some 25 party-goers at a private function became overwhelmed and began to take ill at approximately 9:30 p.m. The chief said there were no known fatalities and that he did not know the extent of the victims' illnesses. He termed the situation a "mass casualty incident."

"As soon as we got on scene we evacuated between 150 and 200 people from the premises," Chief Elmasian explained. "We utilized outside rescue to rush approximately 25 people to hospital who were feeling ill."

The chief said carbon monoxide gauges used by EPFD firefighters upon arrival were "off the charts." He said he did not know the cause of the leak, but immediately the club's heating system was the likely suspect. Chief Elmasian said National Grid was also on hand as the investigation got underway.

"Our main goal was to evacuate and transport the victims to hospital for treatment," the chief added.

East Providence City Manager Richard Kirby, the city's senior public safety officer, said he quickly reached the scene with City Highway Director Rob Walker. Mr. Kirby was gaining first-hand knowledge of how the department takes to cleaning roads during the initial significant snow storm since he took office back in September of last year.

"It was very impressive how professional our guys were, how all of them were," Mr. Kirby said of the EPFD firefighters and those from other departments that assisted.

"They really know what they know. They don't take anything for granted. They all did a great job," he added.