FREEPORT

A Freeport man was rushed to Maine Medical Center in critical condition Saturday after his wife found him unresponsive at the couple’s Woodside Lane home. A family dog perished in the incident.

Freeport Fire Department Deputy Chief Paul Conley said firefighters got the call around 10:30 a.m. Saturday for a smell of propane in a house at 3 Woodside Lane owned by Ronald and Sharon Pelton.

Conley said Sharon Pelton left work to find out why her husband never showed up to a previously scheduled engagement. When she opened the door, she was hit with a putrid smell and dialed 911 to report a propane leak.

She could see her husband unconscious upstairs but couldn’t get to him, Conley said.

Responding firefighters breathing through air tanks rescued Ronald Pelton from the home and loaded him into an ambulance, where he was treated with advanced life support including direct ventilation and oxygen. He then was transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was in critical con- dition Saturday night in a special care unit.

Firefighters went back into the house and retrieved the family dog, a 2-year-old Labrador mix. The dog was administered oxygen, rushed to a Freeport veterinary clinic and administered life-saving measures, but “I’m sad to say the dog did not make it,” Conley said.

The fire department ventilated the house and, given the “severity of life hazard, I requested the state fire marshal,” Conley said. A fire marshal’s office investigator and a technical expert from the Maine Fuel Board continue to investigate the source of the carbon monoxide.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that is a byproduct of combustion. The Peltons were “in the process of changing over from oil-fired heat to natural gas,” Conley said.

The house had fire and smoke detectors but did not have carbon monoxide detectors.

“(Pelton) was sitting up and talking to his family (Sunday) night,” Conley said Monday.

In spite of the dog’s death, “this could’ve been much worse,” he said. “Maybe this is an opportunity to remind people how important it is to have CO detectors in the house, as well as smoke detectors.”

Pelton was listed in satisfactory condition this morning, according to hospital officials.