Every morning at 6, Anthony Mojica’s mother drops him off at 2612 W. Cortez St. on her way to work. Anthony watches TV and waits for a couple of hours under the watchful eye of Ruth Munoz before heading off to make the 8:30 a.m. bell at Lafayette Language Academy, where he is a 5th grader.
But on Tuesday, it was 10-year-old Anthony who had the watchful eye.
The Humboldt Park home he walked into had been poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty space heater, and it wasn’t long after he arrived that the family there became ill-collapsing on the floor, vomiting and drifting into unconsciousness.
“I was a little bit scared,” said Anthony, recalling the events that led to a busy day as a media star and school celebrity. “They were vomiting on the floor and couldn’t get up.”
Anthony tried to wake one of the children, but realized he needed to go for help.
“I woke Wilfredo up and he started vomiting and fell on the floor, and that’s when I ran for help,” Anthony said.
First, he ran to a neighbor’s house, but found no one home. Then he ran to a friend’s house.
“I told them to call 911,” Anthony said.
It was a simple act, but a heroic one nonetheless.
“There’s no doubt this kid saved their lives,” said 6th Battalion Fire Chief Thomas Barrett. “We found people on couches and on the floor, people staggering out of the building. Some were dazed.”
Four adults and seven children were taken to area hospitals about 7:30 a.m. and treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and released. They included Munoz, 42, and her sons, Robert Rivera, 12, Wilfredo Rivera, 11, Michael Rivera, 7, and Emmanuel Rivera, 8.
Also treated were Munoz’s daughter, Ivonne Rodriguez, 20; her daughter, Journey, 1; the baby’s father, Edwin Rodriguez, 22; Munoz’s other daughter, Milagros Torres, 18; and her sons, Erick Torres, 2, and Joshua Torres, 1.
“This time of year when the (heating) units are just starting up, it’s a pretty common thing,” Barrett said. “And that’s unfortunate. It can be deadly because it sneaks up on you.”
Carbon monoxide is a tasteless, odorless and colorless gas that is the leading cause of poisoning death in the United States.
As many as 1,500 people die from it each year nationally, and it has taken its toll in the Chicago area.
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Carbon monoxide poisoning deaths are often the result of being in garages with cars running.
In June, two workers at North Chicago Refiners & Smelters died when a damper to a furnace was left open and carbon monoxide flooded a room the workers were in.
Perhaps the greatest carbon monoxide disaster in Chicago occurred on the Southwest Side almost two years ago to the day, on a mid-November day when Jesus and Graciela Orejel and their eight children died when a faulty furnace led to the poisoning of their home.
That kind of disaster was averted Tuesday. Fire officials have determined that the cause of Tuesday’s leak was a clogged flue from one of two space heaters.
The family members, all of whom lived in the three-bedroom apartment, had been sick for the past several days but thought they were affected by stomach flu-such a common occurrence that carbon monoxide poisoning is called “The Great Imitator.”
“Sunday we were all sick,” Wilfredo said. “We just thought it was the stomach flu.”
On Tuesday, Wilfredo said he was “dizzy and throwing up, and I just kept closing my eyes and couldn’t stay awake.”
His brother Robert said that for the past few days when he and his brothers would wake up, they would feel ill, but once they left the house, “we would feel fine.”
“I have a sinus problem and just thought that was why I couldn’t breathe good at night,” Robert said. “When I got to school yesterday, I felt fine, but after I finished my work, I fell asleep. When a fireman came in, he tried to get me up, but I couldn’t. I tried to stand, but I couldn’t move. I told him I was sick and I wanted to stay asleep. Somebody picked me up and took me outside.”
The family moved into the apartment last summer and had turned the heaters on for the first time at the end of October, but no one had experienced any sickness until about a week ago.
After the Chicago Fire Department took over, Anthony went about his day.
But word of his feat quickly spread; TV cameras bustled through the hallways of Lafayette, 2714 W. Augusta Blvd., and classmates crowded around to watch Anthony being interviewed.
“Everyone in school is congratulating him,” said Omar Maradiaga, Anthony’s teacher.
Principal Efrain Orduz said a school assembly is planned Wednesday to honor Anthony and present this year’s safety lesson.
“We’re a selfish society, just `me’ and `me.’ We don’t think of our fellow brothers and sisters. That’s what he did. He thought, `Well, these people need help, and I’m going to do it,’ ” Orduz said. “Anthony has really lifted our spirits.”
Said Robert: “He’s my hero.”