7th victim of fumes: Afghan immigrant moved grill indoors

Ever since the power failed Friday at the Green Leaf Apartments in Kenmore, neighbors said, Shah Fazli had cooked his meals outdoors on a small charcoal barbecue.

"He was cooking and boiling water for tea," said Mohammad Naikyar, who, like Fazli, had come to the U.S. from Afghanistan.

The spot where Fazli, 73, tried to set up his small grill was not a very good place for a kitchen, just on the concrete entryway leading into his apartment in the King County Housing Authority units. It was partly sheltered by the eaves of the front door.

After three days of trying to cook outside in the cold, Fazli decided to seek some shelter and brought the grill inside.

The decision was fatal.

A relative found him unconscious about 9 a.m. Monday after he took the grill into a bedroom and closed the door, said Northshore Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Torpin. Fazli was later pronounced dead at the apartment, Torpin said.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office determined Tuesday that Fazli died from inhaling carbon monoxide.

He is the seventh person to die as a result of carbon-monoxide poisoning since last week's windstorms.

More than 200 people have been sickened from carbon-monoxide poisoning or asphyxiated by fumes since Thursday night. At Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where scores have been treated, more than 90 percent did not speak English, prompting Public Health — Seattle & King County to issue warnings about the dangers of carbon-monoxide in several languages.

Fazli and his family came to the U.S. from Afghanistan about 15 years ago and for six years had lived at the Green Leaf Apartments, in the 16700 block of Juanita Drive Northeast.

Naikyar said the Fazlis were from Kandahar, where the family had a store selling vests.

In this country, Fazli's son worked in landscaping and the elder Fazli received disability payments, Naikyar added. Fazli's son was at the apartment when his father died.

On Sunday, a neighbor had told Fazli about a nearby shelter that had heat and light, but Fazli said he wanted to stay at his home, Naikyar said.

At the time, Fazli was running low on charcoal.

"On the night he passed away, he asked me to bring him some charcoal," Naikyar said. "I brought him some charcoal from Safeway."

Later that night, the son went to bed, and asked if his father wanted to go to sleep, too, Naikyar said.

"He said, 'No, I'm fine here,' " Naikyar recalled. But Fazli apparently took the grill inside later, where it was found with ashes inside Monday.

An uncle came from Texas to help arrange funeral services, Naikyar said, and the son had gone to stay with a cousin.

Power was restored to the apartment Tuesday night, Naikyar said.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com