A young family is among five victims that are lucky to be alive after being hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning on Tuesday.

Angel Manuel Pichiado said that on Tuesday evening he arrived at his basement home on Nichols Ave. in Brooklyn to find a fire truck and first responders outside.

He was returning home from a doctor’s appointment and was shocked to find his wife and his three children being loaded up into an ambulance to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.

“They took my babies and they took the owner of the home because he was also sick,” said Pichiado, while trying to hold back tears.

Among the victims was Pichiado‘s wife and their three children, which include a newborn boy and two girls who are both under the age of five.

Carbon monoxide can be a silent killer. But in this case, both adults who got sick realized that something wasn’t right and they were able to call for help in the nick of time.  

At first, witnesses said that it appeared as if the situation was touch and go with at least one of the two little girls.

A neighbor said that he saw first responders jump into action the minute they arrived on scene.

“I saw two cops just run inside they grabbed these two little girls and one of the girls was not responsive and they were trying to see if they could get her to respond,” said John Pena.

Later in the day, officials with several city agencies and National Grid arrived on scene.

One of the officials could be seen using a device to monitor the current carbon monoxide levels at the home.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, carbon monoxide readings of 70 parts per million are enough to make someone sick.

The CPSC said that it would take carbon monoxide readings above 150 parts per million to cause disorientation, unconsciousness or even death.

Those symptoms were those described by Mr. Pichiado when he was asked about the condition of his wife and children when he first returned home.

“The other child, the baby, he was passing out. Another one of the children, the middle one was throwing up in the house and when the ambulance came, they took my oldest daughter right away,” said Pichiado.

Pichiado believes that a hot water heater located in a small closet in the family’s basement apartment may be to blame.

While inside the basement, NY1 observed a notice issued by the city’s Department of Buildings which stated that the hot water heater was being taken out of service because it is “unsafe."

Pichiado said that they’ve lived in the same basement apartment for several years without any problems.

An online search for any DOB reports on the family’s basement apartment returned only one.

It was an active case, filed on Tuesday, that was initiated by an FDNY request for an “inspection."