Six people, including a toddler, were taken to area hospitals yesterday morning after firefighters removed them from a house in North Baltimore that was filled with carbon monoxide gas leaking from a malfunctioning water heater and furnace.

Firefighters were called to the house in the 2000 block of Ramblewood Road in the city's Ramblewood neighborhood about 9:30 a.m., said department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright. Someone inside the house used a cell phone to call 911, he said.

The victims, who ranged in age from 33 years to 17 months, were expected to survive, even though they had high levels of carbon monoxide in their blood systems at the time of their rescue, Cartwright said. A test of the air inside the house found there was enough carbon monoxide present to justify an evacuation, he said.

lynn.anderson@baltsun.com