A Palos Hills couple died of carbon monoxide poisoning Saturday morning in Portage after a portable generator filled their camper, according to the Porter County Coroner’s office.
Salvatore Fogu, 68, and his wife, Deborah Fogu, 65, were at Lakeshore Camp Resort in Portage when it happened. Their aging dog, Thumper, also died Saturday.
The coroner’s office ruled their deaths accidental. Toxicology results are pending.
Without power because of Thursday’s storm, the Fogus had a portable generator running outside near a window air conditioner, Portage Fire Chief Chris Crail said.
Vickie Perez, of East Chicago, said her brother Sal and his wife Debbie weren’t at the campground when the storm hit Thursday, although Perez was.
Sal and Debbie arrived Friday morning and bought gas for everybody at the park who needed it for their generators, Perez said. “They were the two people at that park that took care of everyone.”
“We’re all family right there,” Perez said. Her RV is two streets away from Sal and Debbie’s.
“He’s a big asset to our Lakeshore Camp Resort,” serving as bingo caller and many other functions to take care of not only his family but his campground neighbors as well, she said.
“The park’s going to be lost without him,” Perez said.
“He always called it his happy place.”
Debbie, who made the best potato salad, was overshadowed by her husband’s outsized personality, Perez said. “He was a very giving person. Debbie was more in the shadows. She laid back and let him do his thing.”
Debbie Podgorski, operations manager for the campground, was devastated by their deaths. Salvatore was a Lakeshore Camp Resort board member multiple times.
“We developed a friendship outside the park,” she said. Podgorski and her late husband would visit Salvatore at his condo in Las Vegas and “talk about anything and everything” when the Podgorskis visited Vegas.
“He was an avid Bears fan. Jeff (Podgorski) was an avid Packers fan,” Podgorski said.
“They literally, both he and Debbie, were truly what we strive to be as humans. They would do anything for anybody,” Podgorski said. “It didn’t matter if they knew you or not; they would do anything for anybody.”
Until he retired, Sal owned Power Cartage, a Chicago-based trucking company, where his wife worked as a receptionist.
Marin Funeral Home in Chicago is handling arrangements. Services are Thursday.
“He was a very smart man, a businessman,” Podgorski said. She considered both husband and wife as friends but knew Salvatore better because of his service on the campground’s board.
The storm that hit Northwest Indiana hard on Thursday was harsh toward Lakeshore Camp Resort, Podgorski said. Power was finally restored at 9:15 p.m. Monday.
Mayor Austin Bonta and his wife, Meg, toured the campground Monday to see the damage. “You see the other parts of Portage, but you need to remember this 110-acre park is part of Portage,” Podgorski said.
Several RVs were destroyed by trees, and a maintenance building “has a new semi doorway that it didn’t have before,” she said.
She won’t know until Wednesday at the soonest whether a brick bathroom facility is damaged and to what extent, because two massive trees slammed into it and camouflaged the building.
In another carbon monoxide incident in Portage, six people were transported to a hospital, Crail said.
Mayor Austin Bonta wrote about it on social media afterward, warning people to not use portable generators in or near their homes.
“Our city has now experienced several bad carbon monoxide emergencies, including tragic incidents that have taken lives,” Bonta wrote. “Our prayers are with the families and friends of those who have been lost to these issues.”
The fire department shared an infographic directing people to make sure generators are at least 20 feet from their homes and to be aware of which way the exhaust is directed.
Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless. It can cause headache, nausea, dizziness and loss of consciousness.
“As any residents rely on generators during power outages and emergencies, please remember that generators must only be used outdoors and well away from homes and buildings,” Bonta said. “Carbon monoxide cannot be seen or smelled, making it especially dangerous.”
Bonta reminded residents to check their carbon monoxide alarms and review generator safety with their family.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
